Dimitri leaned forward until Eve lost her balance and fell flat on her back. Her hands were still holding his face as he leaned over her with his hands caging her in on either side of her head.

"Dimitri."

Her voice was just a whisper. They were so close now that he could feel her breath on his lips as she spoke his name.

Suddenly, he was transported back to the day they arrived at the monastery together. She had said his name in much the same way; flat, not a question but a statement. There was no malice, no care, no emotion—just simply his name.

And all of a sudden, he felt an overwhelming sadness that she would say his name in this way after all they had been through. It was as if she were speaking to him as a stranger once more. They had spent months together, though to Dimitri they had felt like years. He had grown to know her, or so he thought, and she had grown to know him.

But of course she would look at him as if he were a stranger now. The way he had been acting ever since they arrived in Remire was unlike himself—or at least the version of himself that he presented to Eve.

"Would it make you feel better?" She breathed, seemingly unphased by their proximity. She didn't shy away from him, didn't try to push him away.

"What?" Dimitri's voice was hoarse, why was it hoarse?

"If you kissed me." Eve's eyes bore directly into his. "Would it make you feel better?"

"I will not touch you unless you ask it of me." Dimitri said slowly, regaining both his mind and the memory of the promise he made to her.

"I'm telling you it's okay." Eve said. She was looking right at him and yet Dimitri felt like she was so far away.

"Telling me it is okay and asking me to are two very different things." Dimitri shook his head, finally having enough sense to pull away from Eve and sit upright again.

"If I ask you to kiss me would it make you feel better?" Eve asked in that same empty, distant voice as she sat up too.

It made Dimitri wonder how many times she had done this. How many times had Eve simply become the person other people needed her to be? She was so quick to recede into herself and let some blank slate take the forefront. It was as if she were presenting Dimitri with a new version of herself for him to shape into the person he needed her to be.

And though some part of him found this a touching display of her affection for him, her actions mostly filled him with an overwhelming sadness. Perhaps Eve had never been honest with him about who she was because she no longer knew herself. The real Eve was buried somewhere under layers of Eves that she had fabricated for the people who relied on her.

"No." Dimitri finally said, suddenly aware of how parched his mouth was. "I want you to ask me someday when it is something you truly want; not when it is something you think I want."

"And if that never happens?" Eve cocked her head to the side curiously.

"Then I will never touch you." Dimitri said firmly though if it was to convince her or himself, he wasn't too sure.

"Can you be satisfied with that?" She pressed.

"I cannot speak to whether I will be happy or satisfied with that arrangement." Dimitri shook his head. "But my satisfaction is not the only thing that matters in our lives."

"Our…" Eve mused, seemingly interested by something he had said.

She let the silence linger between the two of them as Dimitri thought back on his deplorable actions. He owed everyone an apology when they returned to the monastery. But most of all, he owed Eve an apology.

"I am so deeply sorry to have put you through all of this." Dimitri said shamefully. "I never should have acted in such a way."

"You're a young man, still just a boy." Eve said softly, regaining some of her inflection in her voice. "I don't fault you for giving in to your emotions."

"I have no time to be a boy." Dimitri frowned. "I need to be a man, a king. I have to be someone who can lead the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus."

"Not with me you don't." Eve replied with something in her eyes Dimitri couldn't place.

And though her expression confused him, Dimitri found himself relieved by it. Her words, her voice, her cryptic eyes were all hers once more. She was the Eve he had fallen in love with, not the Eve who was waiting to be told who to be.

"I don't need a king; I don't need anything from you." Eve continued. "So, if you're going to lose your composure or give in to your impulses, do it with me."

"I cannot ask you to endure that side of me again." Dimitri shook his head.

"You're not." Eve cut in before he could say anything more. "If I am to have any say in it, I don't want to marry the King of Faerghus… I want to marry Dimitri.

"If you truly mean that," Dimitri swallowed nervously, "then will you allow me a moment of weakness for the time being?"

"Of course." Eve nodded. "It is just us here."

"Will you…" Dimitri trailed off, blushing at the notion of what he was going to ask Eve. "Would you allow me to lean on you? Just for a moment while I rest?"

Eve softened at Dimitri's timid expression as he looked at her expectantly. He looked as if he fully anticipated her to refuse his request and push him away. And a part of her wondered if that was the better course of action.

But Eve also saw how small he looked in that moment. He looked like a boy, begging to be held and loved and told everything would be okay. Could she deny him this when he needed it most?

"Come." Eve motioned as she moved to sit beside him with her back against the wall. "Rest your head upon my shoulder."

"Are you sure?" Dimitri asked as if he hadn't been the one to request it in the first place.

"I'm asking you." Eve said, gently bringing her hand up to coax his head onto her shoulder.

Once he was settled, Eve gently brushed his hair out of his face before reaching down to grab his hand in her own. He stiffened at the contact but didn't protest.

In time's flow

See the glow

Of flames ever burning bright

Eve sang softly the lullaby her mother used to sing to her when she was little, rubbing small circles with her thumb on the back of Dimitri's hand. He seemed to still be rather on edge, but Eve noticed a difference in his demeanour.

"Please." Dimitri pleaded softly when she finished her song. "Could you sing just a little longer?"

"Of course." Eve replied, leaning to rest her head upon his before resuming her singing.

It was not long before Dimitri's breathing steadied and his posture slumped even further into Eve's side. And as she continued to rub circles on the back of Dimitri's hand, Eve found herself succumbing to her own exhaustion as well.

She fought her heavy eyelids as best she could, trying to stay awake so she could keep watch for those mages that had chased them there. But soon Eve was lulled to sleep by the sound of Dimitri's soft breathing and the heat of his body against hers.

When Eve awoke, she found herself in an unfamiliar bed in an even more unfamiliar room. It was dark save for the fire that still blazed in its hearth on the other side of the room. And as Eve's eyes trailed over to the warm glow, her gaze landed on the figure beside her in the bed.

She had seen many people who were peaceful and beautiful sleepers, but Eve had never seen someone who looked so chaotic in their sleep. He had one arm thrown above his head with the other dangling off the side of the bed. He had also managed to end up half entwined in the covers and half outside of them. His long hair was strewn about with some of it even stuck to the corners of his agape mouth.

And then there was the snoring.

Eve might have laughed if she hadn't been filled with a chilling dread the moment she realised where she was and with whom.

Silently, she slid out from under the covers, the cold air suddenly bringing to her attention that she was fully nude. Her clothes were strewn about on the floor and she padded on silent feet to collect them and redress herself.

"Where do you think you're going?" An amused voice came from the bed and Eve snapped up from where she was bent to grab her undershirt.

"I shouldn't be here." She whispered in response, hurriedly putting on her undershirt to shield her body from his eyes that were doing a leisurely sweep up her form.

"Come back to bed." He hummed. "It's not even dawn yet."

"I will not." Eve answered tersely as she finally put on the rest of her clothing.

"What's wrong?" His amused smile was gone now, replaced by a concerned frown as he propped himself up on his elbow to look at her.

She wanted nothing more than to return to bed and kiss the space where his eyebrows knitted together, but she knew better. She should have known better the night before.

"Hey." He was out of bed now, holding her wrist to prevent her from leaving his chambers.

"This was a mistake." Eve said as levelly as she could.

"What the hell are you talking about 'a mistake'?" He was angry now.

"I never should have let things get this out of hand, I apologise." Eve bowed her head and moved to pull away from his grasp.

"Nothing is out of hand." He tightened his hold on her wrist and pulled her closer to him. "Now come back to bed and stop this madness."

"I can't do that Milord." Eve looked to the side to avoid his eyes, knowing she would only find rage in them.

"Milord?" He scoffed. "After all this time, all this build-up of whatever is going on between us and you're going to hit me with a 'Milord'?"

"I've had my fun." Eve could feel his gaze burning into her, but still she refused to look at him. "But I'm just a servant and it's time I remember my place."

"I don't believe that." He gripped her chin roughly, forcing her to look at him. "What's really going on?"

"What's really going on is this was a mistake!" Eve ripped her chin out of his hand, taking a step back from him. "You have a fiancée, Glenn."

"Who's a child." He rolled his eyes. "Do you think you're the first person I've enjoyed physical pleasures with regardless of my engagement?"

"I'm older than you." Eve blurted.

"By two years." Glenn frowned.

"Your father will be furious with me if he finds out." Eve said, trying to throw out any excuse she could think of.

"My dad?" Glenn laughed. "Babe, I mean this in the nicest way, but I don't think my dad would so much as know your name."

"Excuse me?" Eve grimaced.

"You said it yourself: nobles don't notice servants." Glenn shrugged.

"Have you not realised that I am literally always by your father's side?" Eve looked incredulously at him. "When he travels, I am the only servant he brings with him. I am your father's attendant; if anyone knows me in this house, it's Rodrigue."

"Rodrigue? Since when were you so chummy with my father?" It was Glenn's turn to grimace. "You're always 'Milord' this and 'Lord Fraldarius' that, why drop the formalities all of a sudden?"

"I'm not having this conversation with you." Eve shook her head. "This was a mistake, I apologise. This ends here."

"I don't accept that." Glenn pulled her back once more by her wrist, tightening his grip. "All of this wasn't a mistake. You and I have a connection, you can't deny that. There's no one else who I can talk to the way I talk with you. You're interesting and kind and dutiful. You've taught me things I never would have learned otherwise. And now you're going to say all of that was a mistake over one night?"

"The mistake was coming to your room last night." Eve sighed. "All those training sessions, those conversations—I could convince myself we were just friends and nothing more. But last night made it something much more real that never should have happened."

"But why not?" Glenn asked, a hurt confusion in his eyes. "Because I'm engaged? Because I'm a noble and you're not? Because my father would disapprove? Because you're just two years older than me?"

"I'm not two years older than you, I'm a thousand and four years older than you!" Eve blurted in exasperation, only realising what she had said once the words had left her lips.

Why had she done that? She had never told anyone the truth unintentionally, even in a moment of panic or hurt. Eve could tell herself that Glenn was going to know eventually regardless, but she knew that she would have done the same whether or not that was the case. For some reason, she cared that much for this Fraldarius boy.

"So it was you." Glenn said, suddenly very sombre.

"What?" Eve was surprised by his response.

"I kept having this dream of a girl just like you at my mother's funeral." His eyes were searching hers, but for what she didn't know. "After the burial, I went to find my father and he was weeping into the arms of someone who looked just like you."

Glenn's grasp on her wrist loosened and he instead brought his hand up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.

"I always thought it was some distant relative I saw him with, your hair is so much like ours." Glenn continued softly. "But I started having this dream lately and for some reason I was convinced it was you. I always thought it didn't make sense because you were as you are now. How old are you?"

"I… am a thousand and twenty-four years." Eve whispered, unsure of why she was answering him honestly.

"You've always served my family, haven't you?" Glenn asked gently.

"Not always." Eve shook her head. "But I have served this house for generations."

"Does my father…?" Glenn trailed off his own question before laughing lightly. "Of course he knows, that's why you're his attendant."

"Do you understand now why I said this was a mistake?" Eve asked, cocking her head to the side.

"No." Glenn answered bluntly.

"Glenn!" Eve blinked in shock.

"So what you're a thousand years old or whatever?" Glenn shrugged. "I doubt you're gonna find anyone who's actually your age. As I see it, we're both adults who are willing and able."

"It's not just about that, Glenn!" Eve shook her head. "There's so much more to it. There's a reason I don't age, a reason I serve your family, a reason your family protects me. And with all of that playing a part, you have to understand why this stops now."

"No, it doesn't." Glenn said, his assured demeanour was somehow both infuriating and oddly reassuring for Eve. "Because if you really wanted this to stop here and now, you wouldn't have said anything. You told me the truth, a dangerous truth. And that means you feel this connection just the same as I do."

"You don't understand, Glenn." Eve huffed, though her heart felt like it was being pulled towards the man before her.

"Then make me understand." Glenn said firmly. "You know me, you know how stubborn I am. If you say there's too much at play that makes this impossible, then I need to know what those things are. I won't accept that we can't be together unless you tell me exactly why."

"That's not fair." Eve grimaced, crossing her arms.

"You know I don't play fair, Eve." Glenn grinned.

Eve awoke the next morning, truly this time, confused and groggy. By the light filtering through the cracks in the shed wall, she reckoned it was just past sunrise. The two of them had survived the night. And judging by Dimitri's sleeping form, he had survived his demons that had haunted him the day prior.

"Dimitri." Eve said softly, pushing back the bittersweet feeling her dream had left her with to focus on what was before her now.

"Eve?" Dimitri stirred, looking around sleepily. "Is it morning already?"

"We need to get back to the village in case the knights are waiting for us there." Eve whispered as he blinked back the sleep in his eyes.

Dimitri nodded silently, stiffly standing up and taking hold of his lance that was leaning against the wall. In kind, Eve also stood and checked that her own weapons were still in their rightful place at her hip.

It was fairly easy for them to find the direction of Remire village in the morning sun. For better or worse, the village seemed to still be smoking from the fires the day before which gave the two of them a clear indication of where to go.

They walked silently, no words exchanged about the battle or what had transpired the night before. Neither one said anything about how far they had managed to run from the village or that it was highly likely their friends thought they were dead.

It wasn't until they were nearing the edge of the forest that Dimitri finally spoke.

"Did you mean what you said last night?" He cleared his throat.

"About what?" Eve kept her eyes ahead rather than turning to look at him.

"That you would rather marry me than the King of Faerghus?" He clarified. "That you would allow me to be vulnerable around you."

"I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it." Eve replied simply.

"Forgive me, but you say a lot of things you don't mean." Dimitri retorted rather easily.

It almost made Eve grin at the prospect that he would be so open as to argue with her.

"That is fair." Eve conceded. "But yes, I did mean it."

"Then I will try my best to be—"

"No." Eve cut Dimitri off suddenly, turning to stand in front of him. "The whole point was I don't want you to try to be anything."

"I do not know what you mean." Dimitri frowned.

"I don't need anything from you, Dimitri." Eve sighed. "I don't need you to try to be the Dimitri you think I want. Just be whatever you need to be around me. If that means you're violent like you were in the village or kind and tender like you are when we have tea, it doesn't matter to me. I'll take whatever just as long as it's genuinely you."

"You say things like this and yet you wonder why I have fallen in love with you." Dimitri sighed with a smile though his eyes held a certain sadness.

"We should keep going." Eve said, swiftly turning away so that she wouldn't have to face those sad eyes.

"Would you do the same?" Dimitri asked her back as she walked away.

"Do what?" Eve asked without looking back.

"Would you allow yourself to be more vulnerable, more candid with me?" Dimitri asked.

"You know I won't." Eve sighed.

"And yet that answer is astonishingly candid." Dimitri mused as they stepped out of the foliage and back into Remire village.

The two of them surveyed the town as they walked through. Though in ruin after the battle before, things seemed to be much calmer now. There was no more fighting and it seemed the Knights of Seiros had deemed the situation under control enough for them to leave.

While Dimitri spoke to the residents to glean what information he could about their ability to weather the winter in their condition, Eve managed to procure a horse for a small fee. She had wanted to offer the remainder of the gold she had on her, but the woman refused to take it all. Her son had died in the rampage and the horse had been his; she told Eve that she couldn't bear to look at it and be reminded of him.

"You're right, you know." Eve said after the two of them had set out on the road back to Garreg Mach.

"Am I?" Dimitri asked curiously.

"I don't seem to lie to you anymore." Eve said thoughtfully. "Rather than lie, I simply tell you I won't tell you the truth. I've never been that way with anyone before."

"As much as I wish you would be truthful with me, I am happy you do not lie." Dimitri said with a slight hint of pride in his voice.

"I would tell you the truth if I could." Eve said, surprised by her own words.

Would she? Would she willingly tell Dimitri the truth? She knew she would have to tell him some semblance of it in the near future to explain her lack of ageing, but that could be covered with some lie or half-truth.

"What would have to change for you to be able to?" Dimitri asked, sounding genuinely curious but also concerned.

"I don't think I know…"

But she did. Eve knew that her heart would have to change for her to tell him the truth. She would have to believe that she could protect him and everyone else from the implications the truth held. She had to know that neither her nor Dimitri would face consequences from Rhea or Seteth or the Church. Or she would have to love him as much as she loved Glenn for those stipulations to lose their meaning. But how could she tell him that? How could she tell him the truth if she couldn't even tell him why she wouldn't?