Elowen stood in front of the door, staring at it.

The guards on either side watched her, but she ignored them. To her, they were just statues. Fixtures that would always be there in place. She could not take them in, because taking them in would make her realize just how many eyes were truly on her.

She raised her hand, about to open it, when one of the guards spoke.

"He wants to be alone."

Elowen turned to the male.

He seemed to have a look of regret on his face as he stared down at her. Elowen tried to maintain her composure, to not lash out at the pity she saw in this man's eyes. He had no right to pity his future Queen.

"Let me in."

The male nodded his head, turning back to open the door. She brushed past him, not bothering to spare a glance in their direction as she heard it shut behind.

She saw him. He was in front of her, standing on the balcony. Her heart clenched as she realized the warning that was now too late. She couldn't have backed away from the guards' words, but he had been trying to make her stop in his own way of protecting her from what she was seeing now.

Theros' head rested on the balcony railing. It was down, laying on his folded arms. He was on his knees, the empty bottle of whatever he had consumed broken beside him.

She inhaled deeply and continued forward.

"Theros."

He did not turn his head towards her at the sound of his name. She hesitantly stepped closer, trying to see his face.

Her hand came over her mouth without thinking as she saw his own bloody hands. And the tear stained face.

He finally seemed to register her presence.

His head turned slowly to look up at her. Elowen knew that it was only because of the drink, only because of the alcohol that he had consumed, that he allowed her to see such a vulnerable and broken look in his eyes.

"I miss her."

Elowen felt her heart lurch at the painful words. She realized that it was not because he had so openly admitted his feelings, that she felt such pain. Not because of the content of it. Her heart was breaking because of how shattered he seemed to be.

She had no idea how to put him back together. She had no idea of how to fix something that had always been broken, and now was damaged even more.

Slowly, Elowen lowered herself to be next to him. His eyes were lost and far away as he looked at the balcony that was next to his own.

"I know," she whispered, "I'm sorry."

He laughed, a flat, humorless sound. His gaze turned to meet hers as he shook his head, "I should be saying those words. But I can't say that. I don't think you deserve to hear that lie."

Elowen met his own sad smile as they both looked at each other. She wanted to reach for him. To touch his face and take his bloody hands. To clean the wounds that he had made to himself.

But she was starting to realize they both could not heal the other.

He had no way of repairing her own loss, just as how she was incapable of bringing him back.

She had begun to think that this marriage would become a companionship. Something that would allow each of them to have a partner as they both walked through the darkness of life.

To make a promise to one another that they would never be alone. Never be alone when they felt that inevitable pain that was sure to come to them.

Elowen was starting to let go of the idea of loving him. She had wondered all along, if it really had been love. If she really had loved him, or the image he had brought. She pitied the male before her, and the way he was. She didn't think she was capable of loving such a broken thing.

And she felt guilty at thinking such thoughts. Because her mind flashed to another woman. Another woman who was the embodiment of warmth. Whom she knew would have never shied away from the sight of him falling. She sighed and wondered what the scene would have been like, and the love the other woman was capable of giving.

Elowen and he were too similar. They were too similar in the way they held onto their thoughts and pride.

She had to learn to let go of her image of what the future she wanted to be was. And accept that reality was what you made of it.

She sat beside him. He turned, letting them be shoulder to shoulder as they put their back to the railing. His head fell, resting on her shoulder.

Elowen raised her hand, stroking the golden strands that were like the rays of sun.

His eyes were closed, breathing even as they sat together in silence.

"You don't deserve this," he whispered. It was the drink. Definitely the drink, Elowen thought as she eyed the empty bottle. The drink was causing all of his dark truths to spill out now.

He gave a heavy sigh, rolling his head up so that he could look at her.

"You won't love me," Elowen stated.

His blue held that of sorrow. She was grateful suddenly, that she had made the decision to come.

"That's okay," she whispered, "we don't need such a thing. You need a Queen. That's what I'm here for. And a friend..." her last words were hesitant as she nervously looked down at him.

A small sad smile graced his face.

"A friend..." he repeated the words back, thinking them over as he examined what she had presented before him.

He slowly nodded, closing his eyes again.

Elowen looked at his bloody hands. She looked at it and curiosity curled in her at what love could be so great to make a man fall so far? What was it about her that made him become this way?

They had made their agreement. They were friends now, weren't they? So Elowen asked, "tell me about her."

His eyes flashed open in response to her words. She could see the change come over him immediately as his thoughts drifted in the direction she had carried him.

His voice was slightly slurred, a deeper roughness added to it from the effects of the drink as he suddenly spoke.

"The first time I saw her..."

Elowen waited in anticipation. For some reason, she was excited to hear this. She wanted to know about the story that had been created between them.

"She looked into my eyes. She didn't look away from me. And when her gaze went somewhere else...I wanted her back. I wanted her eyes back on me. Back to where I was."

"A summer soul would not have lasted long in the winter lands," Elowen said, knowing it was something that had been told to him often.

"She was the bargain," he continued his words as if she had never spoken, "she was offered to me and I knew it was expected that I had to say no. But I couldn't. Not when she was right in front of me. Not when she was something I could have in that moment...so easily...she could be mine with just one word." His breathing became faster as he recalled flashes of the past. Images of their first encounter.

"Did you think she was beautiful?" Heavens. Why was Elowen putting herself through this? But she wanted to hear it. She wanted to know the dark secrets of his mind that he would never tell another soul. The drink had unlocked everything inside him, it was all spilling out now.

"God..." his voice choked, a strangled sound leaving his throat and for a second, Elowen thought he might cry again, "God, she is beautiful."

Elowen inhaled deeply. She had one more question. She knew it was the one that would release her and set her free if she asked. She needed to hear it. She needed to hear it in order to move on.

"Did you love her?" she whispered in the dark.

He shattered right then and there. Elowen watched as her words had the same effect as a hammer to glass. They were too much. Too much for him to take in as a sob ripped through their silence and his eyes flashed to her in such raw and open pain.

His hands reached up to his face. Elowen flinched when she saw the red marks streak down from his forehead to chin. Watched as blood mingled with tears and a crazed sound left the man. He sounded like a dying animal, something that wanted nothing more than to tear the world apart from the anger it felt at being left behind.

"Do not doubt that I love her," he said.

how we feeling everyone? We doing okay? We hanging in there? ♥

Hope you enjoyed the update- thank you for reading (and sorry for the short chapter- It's just one of those moments)