Chapter 192: A Reunion of Sorts
“I told the sailors not to untie you lest you…Oh,” she exclaimed in surprise as she turned around and saw him, but even that was muted as she quickly buried it beneath the expression she used for formal occasions and at court. “What’s all this then? If you could have healed yourself at any moment, why not do so after the battle?”
The way she reacted to his miraculous reappearance was not what he’d hoped for. Even anger would have been better than the weariness she greeted him with. He was disappointed that she wasn’t surprised by his reappearance, but he was a little pleased at the astonishment he saw flicker across her face as she took in his current appearance. That, at least, was something.
“It’s not as simple as all that,” he explained, resisting the urge to move to her. Her body language was very clearly telling him to stay the hell away. “I… a lot has happened since I last saw you. An awful lot.”
“It’s been less than eight hours since you shared my bed,” she remarked, smiling sadly as she approached him, and sat on the corner of the bed farthest from him. “How much could have happened in one night?”
“Well, you turned my whole world upside down last night,” Simon reminded her. “When you bundled me off on that ship, I was distraught.”
“I’m sorry about that,” she said. “I won’t defend or explain my actions, though. You know exactly why—”
“I do. I’m not asking you to. I’m just explaining things,” he interrupted. “We’ve always been honest with each other, haven't we?”
“We have,” she agreed, “relaxing slightly.”
“What has been 8 hours for you was nearly fifty years for me,” he said, forcing the words out of his mouth, even though part of him suspected that saying them was a terrible mistake. “I’ve lived whole lifetimes, and I’ve spent all that time missing you.”