Prompt: #34 Unnatural

Summary: It seemed like going against nature to be like this.

A/N: This follows the Adventum Aduro verse and is after the events in Monstrum (Chapter 19 of this series).

Prodigium is Latin for "monster, unnatural thing".

Prodigium

It seems it was to be a silent battle of wills. Her will against his. He would not broach the subject and he would not her do it either. So she settled for silently challenging him now, whenever they were in proximity to each other. It suited her purposes perfectly that they were constantly in the presence of the other. The tension felt tenfold to the one that had been there before. Only, it was no longer delicious. Now it was a burning sensation that threatened to explode from inside her. A not so very pleasant sensation either. This time, it was not just the tension of wanting to be touched. There was the added tension of being forced to back away when one clearly wanted to be closer. This was a forced exiling. What made it all the more torturous was that it was not even verbally requested. He never said to stay away from him. He did not have to. Not that she would have complied if he had anyway, but it made the difference that he had not voiced it. Neither one of them have crossed the threshold so far. She would have had he not put a barrier between them. Not a physical barrier either. This was an invisible barrier that forced her to keep her distance and her retaliation was to make him come to her. Hence, the ongoing battle of wills.

Pleading with him using pretty words would not suffice. That was blatantly obvious and she would not even try that. It may have worked before but when one was dealing with someone as complex as Noctis, one had to constantly change their strategy to keep him off guard. He was far too intelligent to believe the same thing twice. No matter that it was the truth. It was clear that he had settled in his mind that he was the monster and she was the embodiment of purity. She had come to the conclusion, during this long two weeks of silent battle, that he nor she were monsters at all. The monster was this. This separation, this barrier between them that was keeping them from each other. The void between them was the unnatural thing that should not be there. There were forces at work here that were trying to keep them apart and she can see that at last. She knows not what they are or what their intentions but she was wise to their scheme. Now it was just a matter of making Noctis see this with her.

Most of their time together was spent in the company of others. This would not have bothered her too much, since it was almost a requirement considering her councilmen were still wary of Nihilsomno and Noctis most of all, if she had not known that he did it on purpose. The presence of another person prevented them the luxury of engaging in the private conversation that they needed to have. He was clever. So she had to be more clever. She just needed to make more room in her mind to be. The duties she had been forced to neglect in her absence had been numerous and she had no choice but to focus all her facilities on getting them done upon her return. Her kingdom had to come first, as his always came first to him, but he was important to her too.

One would not have even suspected there was anything amiss at the beginning. His face was always pleasant and cordial. His voice was always accommodating. His demeanor was always engaging. There had been a couple times where he had even offered his arm to her when she needed to be escorted. Only he made sure to carefully maneuver her so that she did not have to touch him anymore than was necessary. It made her heartache for his sake. As if he accepted that she would be disgusted with his closeness and was trying to show her that he understood why she would feel so. He was being understanding when he had completely misread her. Now he was putting up that different kind of distance. One where they were close but worlds apart. Maybe if she were more submissive like she used to be she would respect this and step away. Which would only leave her feeling hurt and crying by herself in the darkness of her room. She was not that person anymore. She could not afford to be. Five years of being without him, only to lose him again. She was not going to let that happen.

Since verbal conversations were always so strategically restricted, she did what she could by way of physical communication. She had recently taken to grasping onto his arm more fully and when she could get away with it, she would even lean into him. His entire body would go rigid each time she did this but he could not push her away without being obvious. Especially when she was becoming very good at feigning innocence when she did this as he seemed to have already mastered. It was not until the night before that she was able to take advantage of a brief moment and had raised herself up so that her lips could whisper heatedly in his ear.

"I will never run from you."

His head had turned to her so quickly that the tips of his hair had brushed against her mouth. He had given her no verbal reply but his eye had said much. There had been shock first. It was followed by confusion. Then it had ended with denial. She had expected this and in that order. It had been simple and to the point. She knew that he would obsess over her choice of words over and over in his head. Everything about it had been calculated, from the heated moisture of her breathe to the promise it implied. Those details would not be lost on him and she knew that she had unbalanced him. He needed to be unbalanced. They needed to overcome these insecurities.

"I don't know what is going on, Stell," says Cal, as he sits on the couch across from her. "From the looks, I really don't wanna know. But you guys are worse than two bunnies in Spring heat."

"We are not shagging," she retorts with a roll of her eyes. The utter crassness of her cousin's accusation was proof of how exasperated he was. He tended to get very descriptively crude when he was frustrated.

"Maybe you need to," he comments, none too delicately.

She rolls her eyes again. Yes, her cousin was definitely frustrated with her antics with Noctis. It was not any where near the level of her own frustrations, but she could understand how awkward this was making him feel.

"I feel like I'm interrupting something salacious every time the both of you are in the same room together."

"Maybe because you are," she snips back.

"Everyone is starting to notice," he points out.

It was needless to say at this point. She was sure everyone in Tenebrae knew.

"I would worry if they could not," she sighs.

As the tension had increased, the less they tried to be inconspicuous. Before, only she had been obvious in her unwavering scrutiny of Noctis while he had tried to remain covert. Today they had been openly staring at each other with blazing intensity. Hers had been a fiery determination. His had been a smoldering desire. A little different but no less passionate in retrospect. The large room they had all been sitting in with her Council had soon been in danger of spontaneously combusting. The other occupants at the table had started to shift around uncomfortably when Cal had finally offered to take her back to her rooms because she looked feverish. Of course she had and not because she was ill either. She had been feverish with a flaming intent and they all knew it. Yes, she had definitely been feverish. So she did not rebuke Cal for being so derogatory now. They were alone anyway. She would have been shocked at such behavior if she had ever witnessed it but Noctis had given her no other choice.

"If you guys don't work out whatever it is that's going on between you, I'm going to have to involve myself," warns Cal.

She can just imagine what he would do. Most likely it would have something along the lines of locking her and Noctis in a room together until they resolved their issues, shagging included. Since that, in Cal's opinion, was where they were skydiving towards already. She knows he means well when he says it would alleviate the tension. It probably would. Until Noctis recovered from his haze of fulfilled desire and feel guilty about that too. In the end, the consequences would be too much. It might just cause Noctis to fall right over the edge and it was never wise to drive a man with Noctis' power to the brink of madness. There was no end to the damage he could unleash.

A knock at the door breaks away those thoughts and Cal immediately springs out of the couch and answers it.

"Just what the doctor ordered!" Cal cries with a grin at the person at the other end of the door.

"That is supposed to be my line," jokes a pleasant and deep voice.

She should not have been as surprised as she was that he was sent to see her, but she is. There is barely enough time to hide her shock before he fully enters her chambers and she is facing him. It would be a lie to say that she was not at all glad to see him. Her intention had not been to avoid him, but she had not had a chance to see him since she had returned to her kingdom.

"Lady," he greets her formally, accompanied with a slight bow.

"I am still Stella, Divum," she says somewhat lamely. They both knew she was not just Stella anymore.

He nods his head in acknowledgment anyway, but still does not say her name.

"I come at the request of certain members of the Council," he explains, looking from her to Cal for a moment. "Apparently you were overheated?"

"I'll say," blurts out Cal cheekily but he does not elaborate.

She is very thankful for his unusual tact.

Divum calmly walks closer to where she is sitting before kneeling down so that their faces are eye level. He studies her eyes clinically as he always does, before asking permission to feel her forehead.

"Yes, of course," she answers and wonders why he asked now when he had never asked before.

His touch is detached and does not linger before he looks into her eyes again. He grasps her hand next, to feel the pressure of her wrist.

"You are a little flustered," he agrees. "Was the room not properly circulated?"

"It was not the temperature in the room," relays Cal with his arms crossed.

"I do not feel unwell, Divum," she says, taking his attention away from Cal quickly. "Really."

"Was King Noctis not in the room?" Divum inquires. "His presence would have helped you."

Cal snorts this time but does not offer any other comment. She feels a wave of guilt at the mention of Noctis. Divum seems to notice this from one look at her face and his professional demeanor melts into the man that had genuinely cared for her. He always saw her feelings so well.

"Can I have a moment to examine my patient, Cal?" he asks, rising to stand on his feet and looking at Cal.

"I'll be right outside," responds Cal. Her cousin exchanges a look with her before retreating to her door and out into the hallway.

After the door has been shut for a moment that he turns back around to look at her. She wonders if he means to scold her in some way. It was not hard to figure out what was going on. True, he would not know the details but he was far more observant than Cal and would have already guessed.

"I have been hearing a few bizarre comments about you lately," he comments evenly.

"Do I want to know them?" she asks, feeling very tired now. Her aggression and determination seems to have flown right out of her, leaving her feeling deflated.

"I had dismissed them as petty insults but from Cal's statements just now, I am forced to wonder if they are actually true."

There is no way to tell whether he was upset with her or not. Unlike Noctis, Divum did not show his emotions through his eyes very often. A trait that was good to have in his profession she supposed. He had to remain stoic, even when telling someone they were going to die. This did not mean that he was uncaring. He was nothing but kindness to everyone and he was generally liked and respected within her inner circle. Nobody had protested when they had started becoming more than doctor and patient. He was from a prestigious family and was considered a progeny in the medical field. They had gotten along so well too. The match would have been ideal to everyone in her kingdom, except her. It would have been unfair to Divum if she married. He deserved someone that loved him completely.

"I have not been acting myself, I admit it," she confesses.

"Lord Noctis has something to do with it, I suppose," Divum says and it is definitely not a question.

"We had a simple misunderstanding and I am trying to prove that he is wrong."

"Does this have something to do with that incident on your way home?"

She looks up into his face. Not out of surprise since she knew that he would have already been alerted. It was something in his tone that had her curious.

"You treated me when I was brought here," she realizes belatedly. There would not have been anyone else trusted enough to treat her. "Did you treat him too?"

"I did," he says with a nod. "He was not in a good frame of mind."

"You say mind," she points out. "Not physically. Did he say something?"

Divum looks somewhat uncomfortable and she knows he must have.

"What did he say to you, Divum?" she asks directly.

There is a moment where she thinks that he might not answer her. She waits as he looks away and sighs.

"He said that he did not deserve you," he says at last. "That you should have…" then drifts off hesitantly.

"Please go on," she insists.

"He wanted me to know that he thought you chose wrong," Divum finishes, looking at her again.

Falling back, she sinks further into her couch.

"I am sure he did not mean that," Divum says reassuringly.

"He did," she tells him quietly. "He did mean it."

"So he has severed your relationship and you are trying to get him to change his mind?" Divum asks, even though he has already reached that conclusion himself.

She nods and Divum smiles fondly at her. It was not the reaction she had been expecting.

"You are definitely doing a good job of it," he comments.

"Are you going to tell me that this is mentally unhealthy?" she asks warily.

"No," he says with a shake of his head. "His feelings of unworthiness are actually admirable."

"Admirable?" she asks incredulously.

"He is definitely not the man I thought he was," adds Divum. "It makes me feel better."

"That makes you like him now?" she asks baffled.

"I have always liked him," admits Divum easily. "I just like him more after hearing this."

She shakes her head at the contrast. What he found admirable was currently driving her insane.

"Before I reached your door earlier," he explains. "I happened across him in the hall. He looked … shaken."

"Shaken," she repeats, not sure what that means.

"Like someone who needed to step out and get some air to clear their heads," he explains. "He might have gone outside."

"Clear his head and reaffirm his resolve," she says almost resentfully.

"Your methods, though unseemly to everyone else, seems to be working," comments Divum with an approving nod. "But I would advise caution."

"Why?"

"When someone like Noctis snaps, you had better be prepared."

That was actually what she had been going for. She was just not going to tell Divum that.