"Right." She nodded, playing with a bit of her hair before starting towards the palace, her hand still in his. She kept to his side, the blush still very much in place as she focused her eyes on the night sky. "Before you were 'given a warning', was your day at least not horrible, after we parted ways?"
"Well, I got to do some sneaking around after a few weeks of not being able to, so I call that a win," he said, his tone light and a soft smile playing on his lips. "But I also got to explore some amazing woods and pet a deer. I'm honestly surprised that buck didn't spear me as he watched me with his girl."
She let out a laugh, turning her eyes away from the sky to look up at him. "The one time I ever saw a deer, it was eating my mother's cauliflower. How did you manage not to anger the buck?"
He shrugged with a bemused look on his face. "Who the hell knows? But he did give me a slightly concerning death glare from a few yards away, so I'm pretty sure he was pissed."
"You just got lucky, then." She teased, giving his hand a small squeeze as she smiled up at him. "I'm surprised you didn't come back with more injuries, the majority from him."
He hummed with a small smile. Too easy. She made this too easy. "I seem to be incredibly lucky as of late," he mused, his gaze sliding down at her with a pointed look as he arched his pierced brow.
She blinked, the pink in her cheeks deepening to a red. "How-how so?" She asked, fiddling with her hair with her free hand once more.
He tilted his head thoughtfully. "Well, I found an incredible woman that puts up with my shit," he started, a small smirk on his lips, "And then the incredible woman, though she has her demons, is slowly but surely opening up to me, and I'm hella proud of her for it."
Proud. He was proud of her? In her eyes, she hadn't really done anything to be proud of. "Putting up with your shit really isn't all that hard." She said softly, shaking her head. "And-is me…opening up, as you put it, really worth being proud of?"
He gently pulled her to a stop and stood in front of her, his eyes gleaming with both pride and seriousness, his joking manner gone. "I know how hard it is to get over traumas—believe me, I've seen it before. Every little accomplishment you make, every little inch you take away from that shadow and towards normalcy, is big. So yes, it is, even if you don't think so."
She bit her lip, unable to remove her eyes from his. He really hadn't been kidding. "I-" She trailed off, not quite sure what to say to that at all. He was the first-actually, the only-person who'd said anything like that to her. Part of that was her fault, for barely being able to look someone in the eye before she'd come here, but it meant a lot. Everything.
"Trust me, Lily, I am proud of you," he continued, lightly squeezing her hand in emphasis of her accomplishments. "Now, I don't know what was done to you for you to have those demons, but I'll do my best to help you overcome them. I can promise you that." His voice quieted and his facial features softened as he finished his grand speech.
She pressed her lips together, nodding slightly. After a moment's hesitation, she let go of his hand, and wrapped her arms around him before she could chicken out. "Thank you." She said quietly, her voice breaking slightly. The obligatory panic threatened to swell up, but she pushed it aside to look up at him.
Rhydar was shocked, to say the least.
He froze as she wrapped her arms around him, his eyes widening to saucers. He barely registered the protesting bruises, his focus zeroing in on just Lily—hugging him. Slowly, he slid his arms loosely around her, looking down into her eyes as she looked up at him.
Lily took in a slow breath, focusing on Rhydar's eyes. She…wasn't panicking. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm absolutely fine. And it was true. Despite everything, she hadn't immediately slipped into a panic attack, like she thought she would. She shifted her arms slightly, to avoid upsetting his bruises, and spoke quietly. "This-the hug, is alright with you?"
He leaned down to press a light kiss to the top of her head. "Perfectly fine," he murmured. And it was. He couldn't count how many time he had wanted to hug Lily. To him, it was almost better than a kiss. He liked holding someone he cared about, and the opposite was true as well.
She blinked at the gesture, the warmth in her chest very quickly drowning out whatever panic was left. Safe. Warm, comfortable, everything she'd been missing since she had gotten free. And all this was coming from a single hug. Though, it was Rhydar. That seemed to be a common thing with him.
His eyes sparkled as he fixed his gaze back onto Lily's eyes. "See? Something worthy of being proud of." He kept his grasp loose just in case it got too much for her, and she needed to get away. He wouldn't hold it against her—in fact, he was honestly ecstatic that she was hugging him of her own free will.
"You…definitely seem to think so." And if she was being honest, she was just starting to believe he was right. "This time, you might be right, since it's been…years. Since I last hugged someone." She bit her lip for a moment before releasing it, the sparkle in his eyes giving her the impression she'd done something amazing to him.
"Well, I'm glad you've given me the honor," he said softly, eyes flicking down to her lips as she bit it before coming back up to her eyes. It was partially a joke, partially the truth. His tongue flicked out to brush against his lip ring—which he was surprised survived the beatdown.
It was her turn for her eyes to wander, just for a moment, as she huffed a soft laugh. "There really isn't anyone I would rather have given that honor to." And that was absolutely true. If it hadn't been Rhydar, it honestly probably wouldn't have been anyone.
He arched a brow, pulling back slightly to scan her face. He couldn't quite believe her words, but the look in her eyes shined with what he could see was the absolute truth. His heart warmed once he deduced that she was telling the truth, and his answering smile echoed that feeling.
Her lips pulled up into a soft smile without her even thinking about it, in response to his. Carefully, she gave him a gentle squeeze before releasing him, though she didn't step back. "I…didn't realize just how much I had missed hugs. Contact like that in general, actually."
He released her as well, not stepping back either to give her that choice as well. A lingering phantom of her grasp still wrapped around him. "Well, I'm always open for more," he said, sliding his hands in his pockets to keep from fiddling.
Her smile brightened at that, her swirling eyes sticking to warmer colors. "I might just take you up on that, sometime." She motioned back to the doors they had been heading towards, before holding her hand out in offering. "Let's get you to someone who can take care of those bruises."