The feelings climbed up and up like tresses, like vines, unruly and out of his control, though with reason and self-control, he didn't have to act on them.
They towered like cotton blossoms, up and up they went, appearing soft and gentle but dangerous to the touch. Kija knows loyalty like a serpent ready to strike in his veins all the way up to his heart.
But loyalty doesn't blush or practically purr like a contented cat. Instead it stays strong and steady even when it doesn't want to.
And the way he feels is like soft cotton that for some reason, he can't tear through despite his dragon claw. Despite the loyalty that crashes through his veins.
And a servant shouldn't love his master like this, he reasons. But beneath his loyalty is a new feeling, a different feeling, with a special kind of loyalty attached to it, a fidelity, a fidelity that he was going to keep as a sacrifice, because he imagines that love and marriage distract from his mission. Yet this kind of feeling makes it feel less like a hard won sacrifice.
Granted, he hadn't been interested in marriage yet anyway. And had been eager for a mission to throw himself wholeheartedly at to avoid discussions of marriage.
But it still should feel like more of a sacrifice that should become more and more felt over time. Just not something born out of a romantic inclination.
But he wishes sometimes that it wasn't dragon blood flowing through his veins, that he wouldn't have this loyalty holding him back, but then again, he doubts he would have been that lucky to have known Yona otherwise.
Let alone fall for her so completely and dedicatedly.