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“Ifrita? Really?!” I narrowed my eyes at my friend, “Whatever would have compelled you to send her off with such a dangerous concept on this fool’s errand of hers?!” Hythlodaeus brought his curled hand to his mouth with a chuckle, the smile assuredly reaching the lilac eyes hidden by his mask. I was starting to believe that my “friends” did these things just to provoke a reaction from me. I could feel the frustration rising in my chest.
“Oh, don’t be that way, friend. I think we both know Azem is more than capable. I would hardly call her spectacular plan a ‘fool’s errand.’” Hythlodaeus cocked his head to one side, shrugging thoughtfully. “And besides, dare I say that actions I take as the Head of the Bureau of the Architect, at my own discretion besides, are outside your purview, oh illustrious Emet-Selch.”
I brought my hand to my brow in spite of myself, the action becoming a more awkward gesture through my mask. “Why is it that every time there’s some kind of mischief afoot, it is always you two?” I dropped my hands to my side and leaned forward, one foot towards him, fuming. “Why must I always be left to clean up the messes you make?!”
Hythlodaeus chuckled again, “So I take it you will be helping her then, old friend?”
I lowered my head and stepped back, bringing my feet together, “If I say yes, will you promise to talk some sense into her when she returns? She certainly will never listen to me.”
“Certainly. After all, what’s a favor between friends hmm?”
I yawned, looking down at my watch. It was past 9 in the eve, well past when I needed to be in my office, but due to the day’s earlier excursion, I needed to stay later than usual just for the paperwork. After finishing my report, I signed down at the bottom and placed my pen down on my desk. I picked up my seal, materialized wax onto the paper, and pressed the seal down into it. As I lifted the seal from the wax, I heard a soft knock on the door. “Enter.”
“Hello, best friend~” I lifted my head as Azem sauntered into my office. I sighed as audibly as I could manage. “Oh shush, I brought you a present!” She pulled her hands from behind her back, presenting a large basket filled with wine, red and white grapes, assorted cheeses, and crackers, all presented with a bright smile below her red mask. Of course.
Seal still in hand, I gestured disapprovingly toward her. “If you think to bribe me, it’ll take more than a gift basket to make up for the mess you caused me today.” I huffed, pointedly slamming the bronze seal onto my desk. Azem placed the basket down on an empty spot thereon and sat on the corner across from me.
She laughed, her voice ringing like a bell chorus in my ears. “Yes yes, I received the ‘stern talking-to’ you directed Hythlodeaus to give me.” I raised my hand and opened my mouth to interject. “And before you ask, I did finish my paperwork, my noble Emet-Selch.” She plucked one of the white grapes from the bunches in the basket. “I just wanted to make sure you received the fruits of your labors today.”
She leaned over and placed the grape between my still open lips. I huffed and attempted to close my mouth in rejection, only to have her push the fruit more forcefully. “Ah ah ah, Emet-Selch. Chew.” Her voice was lilted and playful, with a hint of edge behind the command. Acquiescing, the grape entered into my mouth with a pop, her fingers pressing against my lips for a fraction of a second before withdrawing.
I chewed, the sweet and slightly tart juices exploding into my mouth. I swallowed the grape as well as the lump in my throat as she laughed. “Remiss though I am to admit that these grapes are, in fact, exquisite, I must protest!” Ignoring the heat on my lips that still lingered from her touch, I stood up, placing my hands on my desk. “Azem your actions today, no always, have been reckless, childish, and wildly unprofessional.” I could not let her leave my office not knowing the trouble she caused the convocation, not to mention myself personally.
She feigned being shot, placing her hands dramatically on her chest. “Emet-Selch, you wound me. Need I remind you, that it was my ‘reckless, childish, and wildly unprofessional’ actions that got you your job, friend.” She laughed again when I huffed and crossed my arms. She reached over and grabbed a pair of glasses from the basket with one hand, placing them on the desk, and the bottle of wine with the other, looking it over thoughtfully. “Though of course, it is to no small credit of your own.”
I looked away, “I haven’t the foggiest idea what you’re talking about. I didn’t do anything special. Certainly, nothing anyone else wouldn’t have done.” She sighed, and I looked at her as she shook her head. A corkscrew appeared in her now free hand, and she worked it into the bottle, removing the cork with a pop. A shock of ginger hair snuck its way past her hood, over her mask.
“As humble as ever, still?” She unmade the corkscrew and cork in her hand and poured the sparkling white into the glasses on the table, brushing the stray curl back into her hood. She picked up her glass and looked at me, and with her other hand still lingering by her hood, she pulled her hood down entirely. She smiled broadly and brought her glass up in a toast. “To us?”
I looked down, reaching for a moment toward the other glass before I formed my hand into a fist and thumped my desk. Unable to form words, I choked out what I could manage. “Azem, I -”
She sighed and placed her own glass down. “Hades, what is this really about?” My eyes shot up at her use of my name, only to be shocked further by the sight of her removing her mask and placing it on the desk next to her glass.
“Azem, I needn’t tell you that this is inappropriate, here of all places.” I gave her a level look.
She only looked up at me and smiled, standing up and walking around the desk toward me. “There’s no one here, and besides, what’s a little intimacy between us, old friend?”
I looked down at her, able to notice for once the deep brown of her eyes and the gentle slope of her nose. Every logical part of me protested as she reached her hands up to my face. (Had they always been so elegant?) One hand brushed against my jaw and cupped my face (her skin was so soft, why was I so powerless to stop her?) while the other lifted my mask from my face, the action causing my own hood to drop as well. She placed the mask on the desk as well, my hand joining hers there. “Hades.”
My name then was enough to have me come undone in front of her. I clenched both her hands and brought them together toward my chest. “Persephone, why?” I choked back a sob, my eyes pleading, betraying me with tears. “Why can’t you be more careful? Why must you always put yourself at risk?” I brought one hand to her face now, and she leaned into me. “If anything happened to you, I don’t know what I would-” Both my hands went to her face, and I pressed my forehead and nose against hers. “Persephone.” Her name was as a prayer on my lips.
Her hands wound up around my neck and she leaned up, placing a chaste kiss on my lips. “Hades, say it. Please say it. I know, and I feel it too, but I need you to say it.” The silence in the interim was deafening, with only the breath between us to dampen it.
“I love you,” I sobbed as the breathy confessional escaped my lips. “There, you got it out of me. Are you happy?” I released her face and ran my fingers through her vibrant curls as she laughed against my chest. “Now be more careful, because what I’m saying is a promise.” She looked back up at me expectantly. “I promise you when one day our work is done, and we needs return to the star, that we will do so together because now that I have you, I can’t bear the thought of even a day without you.”
I kissed her deeply, sitting down on my desk chair and pulling her side-saddle across my lap. When I finally pulled away, I reached over and took the second glass of wine from the desk and gestured toward her a toast. “To us?”
She laughed and reached for her glass. She wrapped her arm around mine and thusly, we clinked our glasses together, the sound as clear as crystal. “To us!”