[come_sailaway inbox]

[prince_of_beasts]

A synthesized woman's voice picks up the call.

"Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. Two - Zero - Two - Nine - One - Eight - Two - One - Three - Two -- is not available now. At the tone, please record your message. When you've finished recording, you may hang up or press the # key for more options."

Dimitri hasn't figured out how to customize the thing yet.

Comments

[prince_of_beasts]

Dimitri's fear's gone rancid; cold, bitter and clinging. That's all him, though. They're alright. For the moment, they're alright, and he can't ask anything more of Darcy. He closes his hand around hers; clammy with a nervous sweat, it's warm with the pounding of his dragon's heart.

(No greater love than to lay down one's life for a friend -- Dimitri would agree with her. But for him, it's never been that simple. Three months of freedom can't undo eighteen years of being told that it's duty that demands others sacrifice for him.)

"I love you, too," he says softly. He presses his face to Darcy's hair; swallows, takes a risk, and kisses the top of her head. "It's alright. You won't lose me, either."

[saltwaterlungs]

Darcy stills at the kiss on her head. She'd been too terrified to think of rejection, but the reciprocation sets her heart at ease; it's a vulgar, ugly sentence in English, but the purpose serves. Dimitri is as close to family as she gets here. Simple and straightforward. Hers. Her responsibility to protect.

"Good," she squeezes his hand back, "good," she agrees, "we're fine as long as we have each other's backs."