Chapter Fifty-one
Antibiotic pills scattered all over Lance's bathroom floor. He dropped the bottle as he sprinted after Allura, out of his room, paying no attention to the fact he was in his boxers and nothing else. He caught up to her at the main hall junction where there was a crossroads of hallways to choose from. Stopping her from heading down the hall way toward her room, grabbing hold of her and putting his body between her and the space to run.
"You said nothing happened, Allura. I asked you if I did anything and you said nothing happened," he accused.
"What does it matter, you don't even remember it, Lance," Allura snapped back, trying to tug free and only succeeding in making herself stumbled backward pulling him with her a bit down the hallway.
"If it didn't...I..." Lance trailed off, he didn't even know what it was he pushing for details on but he needed to know. "Allura, did something happen or not in that cave?"
"I took care of you," she spat. "Though, I'm wondering why." Her free hand came up and wiped at her eyes.
"Allura, that prophecy?"
"What about the prophecy?"
"It well, most it of it came true, so, um, are you not telling me something I should know, here?" Lance asked, his mind spinning, his dream no less hazy but snapping into a context he wasn't sure he was ready to face.
Tears rained out of Allura's eyes as she stopped trying to get free of him, stopping their odd struggling dance down the hallway. "Damn it," she swore, wiping at her face with her free hand and she gave him a look that was new, where she looked pissed as hell at him but wanted him to help her all at once. "If, if the prophecy happened fully what would you think?"
He kissed her? Is that what she was saying? They'd kissed? Had it been like it was less than ten minutes ago in his room, half asleep and not fully aware but knowing damn well he wanted more? "We...I... We just kissed Allura," he whispered.
"I know, but I'm not talking about that kiss. I'm asking you about the cave. Lance what about the cave?"
"Allura, was in my room just now the first time we kissed or not, stop dodging the question."
"When you stop dodging my question, I'll stop dodging yours," Allura shouted and yanked herself free. She was down the hall again, long hair flying behind her like a whip. Lance hurried after her, thankful his calf was healing, he caught up to her again before the next turn toward the wing of the Castle her room was located.
"What the hell is your question, exactly, what do you want to know, Allura?"
"Are you still running from it?"
"From?"
"Us, the married version. Are you still running from them?" she asked, her voice low and small. She looked at him with water filled eyes looking both wise and young in that way only she could accomplish.
"Aren't you," he asked back. Because fine, for a while there the idea of him married much less to Allura had seemed insane but somewhere along the line it'd become one of his biggest crazy-ass wishes. A wish that didn't matter because of her, she loved someone else and wanted him. He'd promised her, they'd fight for the future she wanted.
"I don't know," she said.
"Right, so we...wait what?" Lance asked, he'd been ready with the answer she'd want about her and Keith and she'd thrown him on his ass, again.
"I don't know," she said again and her chin jutted out stubborn and regal. "I...I wish you remembered."
Lance rubbed his temples with his hands. Trying to remember the hazy, intangible details that had been so vivid in his dream, the recurring dream that had him scared his first day awake on Arus he'd told her loved her. He looked at her now and he grabbed her by the waist, pulling her into his body space. "Allura, did I tell you anything...uh..." he felt his cheeks burn and he wasn't sure if he wanted to say to yes or no.
"Yes," she whispered, one palm against his cheek, the other pushing hair behind his left ear. "You told me. You told me everything, Lance."
"Huh," he breathed out, leaning down and tightening his hold on her hips.
"I never expected to feel..." Allura started, but then they both heard footsteps and the sound of distant voices looming closer.
"Son of bitch," Lance swore and he looked around where they were. They were around a series of guest rooms that preceded Allura's room, that were always unused and empty. Arm firmly around Allura's waist he dashed them both across the hall and into the closest one.
They both turned, facing the door, peeking through a crack to see who past them by. Lance felt Allura stiffen, her hand reaching for his to grip when she saw Keith and Coran walking by.
"Yes, I agree, Captain. This part of the Castle, despite it leading towards Allura's bedroom is quite underguarded. With so many guest coming to stay with us for more than three days we need to definitely assign two more security sweeps of this area between all doors in and out, and the control room. I have reason to believe something might go wrong at the Ball... So, while it was pleasant to see you awake and planning things Captain, I must confess why is it you are up at this hour and appear to have already taken your run?"
"A bad dream, that is all Coran," Keith said. "I decided since I was awake, I'd get working on details for security for Ball. Getting things started early will make things run that much more smoothly."
"Yes, yes, yes... I agree," Coran said.
"You said you have reason to believe something might go wrong?"
"Yes, I was..."
Keith and Coran turned a corner.
Lance let out the breath he'd been holding and felt Allura do the same. He let the door fall open enough that the soft lighting that was always on in the castle halls illuminated Allura's face. She turned so she facing him, still in the circle of his arms and she sighed. "I'm probably to blame for Keith's bad dream."
"Are you going to tell me what happened?" he asked.
"With Keith or in the cave?" she asked.
Lance felt like the answer to that question could change his entire future. "Cave," he said, it came out low and cracked.
"You told me you were in love with me, then you kissed me," Allura said, her hand landing on his chest where his heartbeat, her palm warm against the beat. "That's a simplification but it's true."
Lance pushed his left hand against the skin of her lower back, between the fabric of her shirt and jeans, he leaned down his forehead hitting hers. "Allura, what did you do?"
"I kissed you back. We kissed until we ran out of air. When we broke apart I... I came back to my senses and you kind of came back to yours. Prophecy over, right. The kiss, the startle. Done."
"Uh huh," Lance whispered, his eyes noting the shape and contour of her mouth, how her lower lip pouted out a bit naturally. He wanted to suck it into his mouth.
"Only... I, I asked you what I was wearing, I wanted to make sure you were seeing me and not the other Allura's you were mentioning from before."
"I always see you," Lance whispered.
Allura smiled, shy and bright and he felt his heart threaten to pound out of his chest. It felt like it should be making it hard for Allura's palm to stay against his skin. "That's what you said."
Lance grinned, apparently even high with a fever he was somewhat smooth.
"I told you, well I thought...I asked you to kiss me."
"Allura?" Lance whispered, inches away from kissing her now and hating himself for not remembering this. How could he forget his one great moment with his perfect girl.
"And it's all complicated now isn't it," she whispered touching his lips with the pads of her finger. "I want you to remember, I need you to remember."
"Remind me," he said brushing their lips together, her fingers caught between them. She leaned up into him as he leaned down into her, wrapping her up against him, hands pushing up under her shirt.
It matched his dream. Allura against him, pushing forward as he pulled her in, tongues sliding and angling in a perfect chase. It was better than the dream. He felt her weight, he tasted tea, toothpaste and her inside her mouth. He smelled her lavender-vanilla and deeper honey scent, he groaned, deepening the kiss with a breath through his nose. Allura moaned, she moved closer, he felt her lift on her toes and he moved his hands down to the back of her thighs and with a slight lift she was wrapped around his waist, pressing against him and him thrusting into her. He slammed her against the wall by the door threshold they were in, and broke apart for a breathe and to slow down his heart and his need.
She was looked down at him now, she captured his face in her hands and she sighed. "Why?"
"Why what baby?"
"Why..." Allura started to ask when a light clicked on. It was followed by a distinctly Norwegian clearing of a throat and Romelle coughing.
It was ice water but Lance found it hard to let go of Allura. Allura had her entire face buried against his neck, he could feel the heat on her cheeks. He moved, her legs fell back to the floor but she stayed hidden. While he made himself look into the room and he found Romelle and Sven standing by the door the guest room bathroom. Romelle was in a bathrobe, her hair up in a towel. Sven's hair was wet and he was wearing the pants and dress shirt he'd worn to the funeral.
"Uh, so, Romelle's room, huh?" Lance muttered.
Sven's look was one of dagger but Lance caught the worry around the edges of the grim line his friend mouth was making. Lance wasn't sure how this work out, Sven was closer to Keith than him. This was bad.
Allura shifted in his arms, he loosened his hold on her so she could break as free as she wished. She moved only enough to face her cousin and Sven, her chin forward, though her entire face was pink. "I really don't know what to say," she ended up stammering.
Lance felt her embarrassment and her fear, it was inside his head the emotions if not any specific words or sentences. He was apprehensive about this situation. Romelle he trusted to keep quiet, for Allura, until her dying breathe. Sven was a different issue, split loyalties could do that to a person and all Lance could think was, he's going to pick Keith. Just like the woman in your arms, right, he heard himself think. It's a matter of seconds now, Keith's name is going to come up, why not get it over with.
"Don't tell Keith," Lance said. "I mean, keep this quiet, this isn't really what it looked like...that's not true. It was what it looked like but it wasn't...it isn't. This is complicated," he ran a hand over his face.
"Complicated," Sven stated, the first words he'd spoken. "Complicated? That was pornographic. I navnet til Odin er dette en umulig. Jeg såret Lance eller jeg såret Keith, dette er galskap. Snarere være i Pit of Skulls." He snapped in Norwegian towards Romelle, then Lance and Allura but didn't seem to be talking to any of them.
Allura gasped, Romelle whitened when they heard Sven say Pit of Skulls.
"What the fuck, Sven, nothing is worth invoking the Pit of Skulls," Lance shouted back.
Sven sighed and shook his head. "I am sorry, Romelle. Princess. I... this is not something I was expecting to...this is disturbing."
"Disturbing?" Allura said. "What's so disturbing about it?"
"Allura," Romelle said. "Allura you and Lance, were with the whispering and the love confessions, and the touching then the kissing...and the..." Romelle trailed off her hands waving in the air as if that explained the rest of her sentence.
Lance knew what she meant so Romelle had gotten her point across without having to say it in words. It'd been an intense kiss, he wasn't forgetting it he knew that much. He never could, not even Sven ruining the moment by turning on the light wasn't going to mar the memory of this night.
Allura was hiding her face again, he looked down at her met her eyes and she smiled at him and it hit him she didn't regret it either, which made his heart fall to his stomach for a moment. He needed to be alone with her, they needed to talk about this because he'd never thought. Whenever he'd imagine his feelings leaving his mouth, Allura's reaction had always been loving pity.
This wasn't that it was far from it. It was the opposite of but there was something wrong, something bothering her and he had a feeling it had to do with Keith, him and the questions she'd been asking either... what were they about? Lust, love, sexual chemistry? His eyes widened as he looked at her? There was nothing wrong with their chemistry, not on his end anyway, didn't feel like there was anything wrong on her end. He'd felt something from her the whole time, inside his head. It was as if once that link opened it was always there, not always in use, not always with words but they sensed the other. She'd wanted more of him, needed it was how it'd felt. Or was that all him?
No.
He grinned at her, she took in a breathe. "Uh, how much?"
"Only the last part was in words," she laughed.
"Now they are forgetting we are here," Sven muttered to Romelle.
"It's kind of sweet."
"It is not," Sven said.
Romelle sighed. "Sven, let's go to your room."
"What?" Sven said. "It's going on to four in the morning soon, you cannot be seen out with me? It's bad enough we got engaged after the baby," he touched her stomach.
"Four? Shit, Allura, you have to get to your room. You never know when Nanny's going to wake you five or six, six-thirty if you're lucky tonight," he grabbed her and opened the door.
"Lance?"
"What?" Lance said, looking at Sven. "You should get your room too, as you pointed out?"
"You are in your boxers. I left some pants here the other night, uh, I had to hide in the wardrobe. We fell asleep...you should at least put them on," Sven walked to the wardrobe and pulled out a pair black slacks.
Lance rolled his eyes but pulled them on, he and Sven had always been close in size, so they fit well enough. "Thanks."
"Two more things," Sven said.
Lance sighed.
"I won't tell Keith. You should tell him, or the Princess," Sven glanced at Allura.
Lance nodded and waited for the lecture he thought was coming about betraying Keith's trust. It wasn't that he no guilt, he had plenty it was outweighed however by being in love with Allura. Also he didn't know which end was up right now, he'd only found out he'd spilled the beans to her. He was in awe that she felt anything back for him at all. He didn't know what the hell they were going to do, or what she wanted to do even about Keith.
"How drunk were you when you got that tattoo of Red Lion? Because one needle on a moon and your a crybaby but that piece of art had to have taken weeks?"
Lance felt a weight on his spine that had formed when he saw Sven grey eyes from across the room disappear. They were going to be okay, somehow, him and Sven. Sven was telling him by making fun of him.
"It is exquisite, the detailing is so fine, never seen a tattoo like it," Romelle said.
"What does that mean, mine is detailed," Sven said.
"What the Mom you have on your ass?"
"It's the World Tree and it is not on my ass," Sven snapped.
"Whatever, the roots are on your ass," Lance laughed, especially since he got Romelle to giggle. "I gotta get her back to her room, okay?"
Sven nodded.
"Sven," Allura said, stepping forward and looking Sven straight in the eye for the first time Lance realized. "Thank you. For letting this be between me, Lance and Keith."
Sven nodded.
"Come on," Lance said, taking her hand pulling her out of the room, Allura squeezed his grip and when he got her to her door, he felt lost on how to say goodbye when it was the last thing he wanted to do.
Allura looked up at him. "I wasn't going to tell you, unless you remembered. You still don't remember?"
"I do, kind of, been having this dream about telling you everything. You ask me to kiss you in it. It's what I was dreaming, before, in my room."
"Me too," Allura whispered.
His throat constricted, he ran his hand down her arm and then took her hand again, squeezed it. "I do, you know. I love you, Allura."
"I know," Allura said. "I...I know you know I'm confused," she said, her hand coming up and touching his mouth. "But, it doesn't mean I don't..."
"Shh," he whispered. "Let's work out the confusion, okay. We'll talk tomorrow, in the garden. You'll let me know what happened with Keith?"
Allura nodded.
He bent down and kissed her, soft, no tongue but not chastely he could never figure out how other guys managed that. He sighed when he pulled away. "Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow," she said back, slipping into her room.
