Promise
(inspired by BillA1's "The Space Between")
Shayera's stomach flutters, but Hro is here with her, and he loves her.
She doesn't have many female friends, and only one has spoken of this moment. "It burns for a few minutes," Kalan warned her. "Better to do it quickly." Shayera has been shot, gashed, and stabbed; she tells herself she isn't afraid of a little pain.
Still, her skin is sensitive to the lightest touch as Hro's hands move. A stretch, a tear, and she gasps. She hopes there isn't much blood.
At his concerned expression, she lies: "It's fine." Hro kisses her, then pierces her other ear.