[se] lightning in a bottle

Sohalia

Yes, he said, and her heart stuttered and soared.

I mean - the Dragoons serve their Heart! he added, and she couldn't keep the disappointment from her face. Was that all she was to him now?

But then he looked at her with a sad, fragile little smile that made her want to wrap him in her arms until she could chase it away. She swallowed hard. Gods, but things were complicated, and the olive branch that stretched between them seemed simultaneously so close and yet so far away. "I want to be here for you, too, Koa," she whispered, honesty shining through her silver eyes. "I - I know I made a lot of mistakes, and that I hurt you, but I don't want to lose you. And if that's just as friends, then I'm okay with that, too." And if an insidious little voice in the back of her mind whispered that maybe they could still be more, she ignored it. For now, anyway.

She hesitated, then added, "And, uh, I don't have Jude. Not anymore. We broke up." Should she have said that? If they were friends, then she should be able to confide in him, right? But there was so much history - maybe she should have kept it to herself. But then, he'd find out eventually, wouldn't he? Might as well be from her.