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“I suppose we are due to meet them, don’t you?” Kandomere had said it in such a mundane fashion that you nearly missed it.
Your mouth went dry, you froze, “Who, again?”
He peered at you with a calculating gaze, pale eyes stilling you more so than the comment, “Our parents, amor. You were just talking about them.”
Realization dawned, you put your hands to your face, “Yes of course.” Your mother had messaged you with a photograph of your niece. You looked back at the sleek standing Elf in your kitchen, Kandomere was cooking dinner.
“It sounds like a good idea”, You winced at your tone. Kandomere had heard it too, the way his ear twitched and his spine straightened as proof enough.
“Your voice suggests otherwise.” The words were short and to the point, he wouldn’t outwardly state it, but he held suspicion.
You swallowed thickly, removing your reading glasses and setting them gently on the table, “My mothers name is Cynthia, my fathers name is Monroe.” You stood, crossing to stand behind the island, elbows resting tentatively on the edge. “I have 10 sib-”
Kandomere was across from you in an instant, mirroring the position and leaning his face inches away. A strand of silken, steel blue hair fell from its place in its clip, “Siblings, 4 sisters, 5 brothers, I know.” Even leaning at such a drastic angle, Kandomere still peered down his perfect nose at you. Those eyes, those damn eyes, they would never cease to make you sweat.
With an unsteady breath, you met them with your own, “I know, that you know.” He arched a brow, you clenched and unclenched your jaw, proceeding with care, “But you don’t know everything, Kandomere.”
Something in his white orbs glinted, “Oh? Is that so?”
A gentle head shake and soft eye roll, “Don’t.”
He squinted tightly, turning swiftly back to the stove, “Enlighten me.”
Lips tight, you pulled into yourself, uneasiness filling the pit of your stomach, “I don’t really know where to begin…” You let your voice trail off, feeling your skin begin to itch. You didn’t even notice that your fingers had taken it of their own volition to begin scratching frantically at you skin.
“Begin wherever you like.”
“I’m adopted.” That was a good place to start, right? Sure it wasn’t the most important of facts, but it was pertinent nonetheless. “I only bring it up now, because, when you do meet my family,” You breathed, “You will meet my sister, Samantha. And, she can be…….temperamental.”
Kandomere crossed to the table in a few graceful steps, placing two plates in their prospective places, taking his seat, “You are uneasy.” He looked to me again, body relaxed, expression stoic, “Adoption is a rather interesting concept to be anxious over.”
Your being silly.
It was virtually unsaid, but stated all the same. Kandomere knew better, you weren’t one to worry over nothing, and this would be no exception.
“There’s more to it than that, and you know it.” Taking your own seat, you lightly touched fingers to your face. Perhaps you could take a more sarcastic route, “It wasn’t a legal adoption. They took me in, you’re familiar with the sob story.”
Kandomere donned a face of amusement, raising his brows as a signal to continue.
“House falling to shambles, broken more often than it was lived in. Beatings, drugs, drinking, just an overall unsafe environment. Cynthia crossed by when I was 12, decided to take me home with her. They took me in, made me family, so on so forth.” Kandomere’s expression remained unchanged, you swallowed again, heart jumping into your throat.
“Where you are born does not define who you are. You know that, y/n.”
With a sullen nod, you continued, “Yes, yes I know that. But my sister doesn’t always see things so black and white.” Kandomere’s pupils became pinpricks, You rushed to continue before he could assume anything, “She likes to use my heritage against me.” Breath quickening, you pressed on, “My Great Grandfather, he wasn’t, um, wasn’t human.” Kandomere tilted his beautiful head in silent question.
Your breath was stuttering, so many years of self repression. Maybe you couldn’t bring yourself to admit it. But this was Kandomere, the love of your life, he wouldn’t just cast you out, right? You choked, “My great grandfather was Orc.”
Silence fell, you could look everywhere but him, “That, as I’m sure your realize, makes me 1/8th Orc.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell me? Did you truly think me so shallow?”
“No!” You shouted, a sudden reaction to such a plain question, “I never thought you were shallow, Kandomere.”
“Then why bother to hide it?”
You stood, the notion of sitting for so long suddenly obtrusive, “Because not everybody is so kind. You see the news, you see it everyday.”
“But you still believed that I would prosecute you for something you had no control over? I thought you wiser than that, Y/n.” Kandomere stood, placing both untouched plates by the sink, hurt rolling off of him in waves.
Anger began to bubble over within your chest, “I am wiser than that, dammit. I learned my lesson! And I did better the next time.” You said it with a sense of finality, tense rage striking in every chord of your voice. You turned away, breathing deeply through your nose, and tightly crossing your arms. Somewhere in your mind you registered your nails biting into the skin of your arms, but you couldn’t bring yourself to care at the moment.
Kandomere’s nostrils flared, calculating eyes squinting sharply, “There is more, what aren’t you telling me, y/n?” You couldn’t tell what tone he was using, he sounded angry, of course, but also confused, longing, maybe? No, that’s what it was, fear. “What is it?”
Tears were prickling at your eyes, you rushed to wipe them away as you turned to him, Kandomere was begging, staring with such intensity that you had to avert your gaze agan. “Quit looking at me like that!”
“What are you hiding, mi alma?”
The was his softened voice seemed to crack at the end broke your composure. You looked up, staring straight through his pupils, “I haven’t told anyone since I was 15. I confided in the wrong person, and I learned from it.” He wasn’t satisfied with the answer, You knew he wouldn’t be.
“They were kind, and sweet, and accepting, and they had my trust. They were just like you. They earned it. So I told them,” Kandomere flinched almost imperceivable so, “And then there was a blur, and then I was on the asphalt. And There was blood, and yelling, and the ground by me was shaking. Then I was in a hospital bed, and I was in that hospital bed for the following three weeks.” Following the declaration, you collapsed into a bar stood behind the island, head hanging heavily with your hands over your ears.
“The local police did nothing?” His voice was so rough and harsh, it was grating.
You chuckle darkly, “I was a teenager, living in a shitty neighborhood, coming from the drug infested projects. The police didn’t give a damn about me.”
Kandomere clenched his jaw, fingers folded together. He was void of expression, not entirely unusual, but still unsettling.
The silence brought goosebumps to your skin, your breath hitched and you felt tears begin to well up again. With a painful, thick swallow, you spoke once more, doing everything to keep your voice from cracking, “You understand why I never told you, right?”
The elf gave no acknowledgement.
Your breathing became more uneven, tears beginning to fall - he could smell the salt, you knew it. “I- I- I know, I know you aren’t them. I know that, except that I knew them too. I trusted someone and it nearly got me killed, I love you, Kandomere. Believe me, but, but you have to understand why.”
Again, the sentiment went unacknowledged, and now you let the tears fall freely. Clasping a hand tautly over your mouth with a small smack, you pushed from your seat. You ran to the bathroom, pulling the door closed and turning the lock. You sat with your face in your hands, sobs effectively erupting from your mouth despite your valiant attempts to smother them.
It may have only been but a few minutes, no more than 5, you were sure, but there came a soft knock at the door. You hiccuped, unable to sustain a deep breath to save your life. You bit on a towel to smother your cries, listening intently for the second set of rapping on the bathroom door. It came and passed, as did the third.
“Y/n, please open the door, Darling.” Pause. “Mi Alma, por favor sal. Ven a mi, mi Amor. Please.”
Your body seemed to move of its own will, turning the lock. The door nearly swung off its hinges, and Kandomere had you wrapped within his arms before you could think to speak. He pressed you into the corner, a cage of gentle dominant support. You couldn’t see past his shoulders, and all you could smell was his cologne.
He held you for a long time before he spoke, the both of you pressed into the little corner of your bathroom. You felt the vibrations through his chest, they warmed you, “Breathe, my love, breathe.”
He pinned you with his hips, one arm framing the space above you, and the other coming to your cheek. He pressed your foreheads together, his breath fanned your face. Kandomere’s touch was impossibly gentle, but when he spoke next, his words were laced with violent rage.
“Never, never, will you be hurt again, Y/n. Do you understand me?”
For just a moment, fear flickered in your chest. Kandomere had always been an extremely intense person, for as long as you’d known him. But the way he was glaring into your eyes, and the severity of his words, it had you trembling.
“Do you I make myself understood?”
Tensely, you nodded, and Kandomere breathed out, almost a sense of relief, “Aloud, Darling.”
“I understand.”
He nodded, “You are mine, Y/n, I refuse to let anyone ever touch you.”
Kandomere’s steel blue locks created a curtain between the rest of the world and the both of you.
“I do not give a fuck about your heritage. But your well being? Yes, I give a damn about that. I want you as you are. And that includes you being safe, and healthy, and unharmed. Do I make myself clear?”
Your breath ceased in your chest, “Yes, I- yes, Kandomere.”
The beautiful elf seemed to relax, stress flowing out of his shoulders. “I love you.”
Your eyes fluttered closed, “I love you.”
“Tell me what you need, mi amada.”
“Just, don’t let me go, Please.” You pleaded.
“Never.”