The pain came in waves again, almost unnoticeable at first, and slowly rising like the tide. The bodiless water brought images, dimly lit silhouettes, leaving traces of their cold light as they moved. Soon, they formed clearer images, and the intensifying light revealed but one colour. Red. Red streaks that dripped down the silhouettes of large men. One was on the ground, unmoving. The deafening roar and gushing of invisible water finally gave way to echoing voices, some in the distance, some very close, but not a word from any of them that would have been recognizable. One of the men was Nyx. She knew it was him. His large back and his long hair were carved out from the darkness by the red liquid that engulfed the whole scene. He was laughing. He towered over the body, his mouth formed into a vicious grin. She tried to speak, but her voice was gone. Then she grew aware of another one standing next to Nyx. Long, red hair was casting its light on the scene, but she could not discern their face. The more she tried to see clearer, the more excruciating the pain.

Iris sat up, desperately gasping for breath.

Her chest widened and contracted uncontrollably, while she tried to pull her mind back into reality. Had this been a vision? If such were the visions that Aren saw, then she wasn't so sure if she wanted to have these powers, after all. Her head still ached horribly, there was no escape from it. Her muscles trembled and burned from the lack of oxygen. When her breathing finally calmed down, Nyx' voice reached her ear.

Iris? Just what happened?

She only noticed now that he was already holding her close. His heart was beating a bit faster than usual.
You scared me there..., he whispered, obviously astonished about his own reaction.
"I... I saw...!", she managed to utter, but her voice wasn't obeying her just yet.
Calm down, first, Nyx said gently and stroked her back. Iris' stiff arms wrapped themselves around his chest.

This was reality.

She breathed out heavily once more.

A bad dream?, Nyx enquired upon noticing her heart had slowed down again.

"More than just a dream, I am afraid", she muttered. But the memory of what she had seen rapidly escaped her.
"I saw you, and...another man. Collapsed. And also... red...so much red. Like streaks of blood. And you were with someone."
Who?
"Red hair...."
I see, Nyx said. Were you scared?
"A little...but...."
But?
"Not of you", Iris managed to smile.

Nyx passed over her remark, his aura suddenly darkened.

Is this the outcome of Aren's teachings? Is pain the price you pay for his so-called 'protection'?

He grabbed her shoulders and stared at her face for a second, then turned away.

What have I gotten you into...

Hearing his words, Iris' mind went wild. She had not felt this kind of desolation from him ever since she had first encountered him by the lake. That he would feel like this even now that she was by his side – even worse, because she was by his side! It sickened her unbearably. How could she make all of this suffering of his go away? Her own was nothing in comparison.

"Nyx", she said, wrapping her arms around his neck, hands resting on his collarbone. Her voice sounded serene again, at last. "I am not afraid of pain. It comes and goes, and is soon forgotten."

Tsk.

"You hate to see me suffer...", Iris continued, still hugging him closer. "I know. But I am just the same. If you were to send me away, I don't know what I...!"

But that's the point! Nyx suddenly cut her off. I can't. Although I should, I can't let you go! I wasn't raised to be this irrational, but I am. Only the thought of you getting hurt is enough to almost make me go crazy. But the thought of you leaving me, just....

"...makes me want to die", Iris finished his sentence.

I should not think this way, Nyx continued. I am the king. And therefore nothing but this nation's highest ranking warrior. My only concerns should be dedicating my whole being to serving the nation, and securing the succession with a queen I am to choose for her ability to do just the same. I should not want anything for myself. I should not love...,he left his sentence unfinished.

"Look at me", Iris asked softly, and waited for him to turn around. "I love you, too", she said with a smile.

Will you still be able to say that after you saw the other me? The blood-thirsty, ruthless side of me? I would be lying if I said that it was just an act.

"I have caught glimpses of it before", Iris admitted, "and I cannot promise that I won't be afraid, or that it won't pain me to see you like that. But these fleeting feelings won't mean the absence of my love."
When Nyx did not move, she added: "It will get better with time. Just like pain won't be these visions' company forever."
Which is the very reason why I fear that in the end, I will be the one corrupting you.
"Whether I let something corrupt me or not", Iris said and grabbed his cheeks to pull him back into the here and now, "is completely for me to decide."

She placed her forehead onto his.

"I can be headstrong, too, you know."

Her lips found his amidst the thinned-out darkness of the withering night.

"I won't run away."

Nyx struggled to keep his mind together. The last embers crackling in the fireplace made her skin glow in mellow colours, her complexion unworldly soft. Nyx sat still, staring. He just could not get used to it. Her beauty surprised him time and time again. As her face drew closer, the rhythm or her chest expanding and contracting grew more irregular. Her heart's fluttering palpitations filled his ears. The world around them already threatened to drown in the warm feeling of her soft skin and the entrancing scent that poured from her lips. These divinely sculpted lips, now tainted in vivid crimson and more inviting than ever before.

Stop, Nyx mumbled, dazed like a drunkard. You already know I can't control myself when you do this.

"You don't have to", Iris whispered, in the short interval between two unprecedentedly tender kisses.

As she snuggled deeply into his chest, and placed another kiss on the tendons of his neck, Nyx finally gave in to his yearning. The last thing he clearly remembered was his hands embracing her elegantly swung back and full hips, gently laying her body down on the linen. How his lips had inseparably clung to her rose petal mouth, while her arms entwined around his neck, and how she let him remove her night gown with a shy smile. How the white waves of her hair had whirled all around him, blending into those of the sheets, until the rest of the still sleeping world was but an idea, vanishing into the pleasant feeling of her silken skin, and the white light that shrouded his mind. There was nothing left but her boundlessly overflowing warmth that bridged the last bit of distance between them.