Private Interruption

[Aurelian Veruna]

Location: Not today
Tags: Sibylla Abrantes

Aurelian reacted the second he noticed the subtle shift in her stance, the way her shoulders tensed, the unnerving sharpness in her eyes. It was too sharp, too willing, far too close to the edge he wouldn't let her fall over, not for his sake.

He moved in behind her without a word, his hand closing gently but firmly around her wrist. Sibylla gasped, her breath catching, but she didn't fight him as he eased the vibroknife from her fingers. Her pulse thrummed beneath his touch, a sharp vibration of adrenaline. He met her gaze, seeing not fear or disapproval, but a fierce, unyielding protectiveness tinged with guilt. This was his fight, his mess, his enemies. It wasn't hers to stain her soul over.

Aurelian smoothly took her place, his knee hooking into the thug's ribs, the blade angled under the man's jaw. The thug's breath hitched in terror, and for good reason. Aurelian's voice was calm, level, and deadly. "Are you going to talk?"

The brute from Farstine spat on Aurelian's jacket. Aurelian didn't even flinch, merely wiping the spittle away with two fingers and flicking it aside. His gaze caught a mark on the man's wrist, a brand half-hidden by a strip of fabric. Recognition flared across Aurelian's face like lightning. His jaw tightened. That single detail told him all he needed to know.

The man didn't get another question. The blade slid cleanly across his throat, efficient and final. The body went still. Aurelian didn't look back as he walked away. As soon as he reached Sibylla, he pulled her into him with an urgent, instinctive force, one arm around her shoulders, the other cradling the back of her head. Blood slicked their clothes, but he held her as if anchoring himself to something solid before the fury within him could break free. "Are you hurt?" he rasped against her ear, his thumb brushing her cheek, wiping away a smear of blood that wasn't his. "Are you alright?"

Before she could answer, voices called from the street. Dockworkers, half-drunk and half-aware, hurried down from the bar, their eyes widening at the scene. "Shiraya above... Marcus! Are you alright?"

Aurelian didn't release her hand as he turned, his posture straightening, regaining a controlled composure. "I'm fine," he said, his voice crisp. "I need the bodies taken up to Rainspire. Quietly. And the pier cleaned." The workers exchanged glances, then nodded with the kind of respect usually reserved for his bloodline. "For you, we'll handle it. No questions." Aurelian slipped a stack of credits into the nearest hand. "For the trouble." They bowed their heads, already moving.

​

 

[Sibylla Abrantes]

​

Location: Stay with me.
Aurelian Veruna

Honestly, it was the adrenaline that hit her the hardest.

During the fight, there hadn't been any time to think. Sibylla's body had simply moved as she tried her best to trust the instinct sharpened by the training she'd worked so hard to build. The irony wasn't lost on her that tonight had been meant for testing those skills with Aurelian… and that his voice telling her to do whatever she needed to survive still resonated in her ears.

Or maybe that was just her heartbeat pounding hard enough to shake her ribs.

Shock, relief, anger, and a desperate need to touch him collided in her chest all at once, a tremor sweeping down her limbs even as Aurelian strode toward her. Yet the moment his arms wrapped around her, it made everything inside her buckle.

She clung to him instinctively, her arms winding tight around him as she pressed into the solid warmth of his chest. She could feel his own heartbeat hammer as wildly as her own, his breath ragged against her ear as he demanded to know if she was hurt. But when footsteps and voices rose behind them, Sibylla couldn't help how her body tensed again, a fresh jolt of alarm shooting through her.

Only to realize that this time, Aurelian knew the men approaching.

Relief spilled through her so abruptly her inhale hitched into a shaky exhale as she let her forehead fall against him, taking a shuddering deep breath only to inhale the thick coppery scent of blood.

"Oh Shiraya…" she uttered out in alarm as she pulled back to get a better look, hazel eyes widening at the dark, wet stains smeared across his clothes. The surge in panic came quickly, painting her heart-shaped face in dawning anxious fear.

"Are you ok? Are you injured?" Her hands slid beneath his jacket and over his ribs and shoulders with frantic urgency, checking for wounds even as her own breath came uneven and tight. Only when she realized he wasn't seriously injured did she allow herself to lift her gaze fully to him.

She cupped his face even as her palms trembled despite her attempts at composure. And when his eyes met hers, she saw past the mask he had so expertly rearranged for the dockworkers.

Rage simmered there. Fear, too. And something deeper, utterly raw, earnest, and painfully human.

"Hey," she said soft and coaxing as she tried to draw him back from the edge. "Look at me."

"I am alright," she murmured, brushing her thumbs along his cheek trying to ground them both with the touch. "We are alright. Breathe with me. Just… hold me and breathe."

She leaned into him trying to match her breaths to his until the jagged edges of panic began to soften. Yet beneath the settling calm, a cold realization tightened at the base of her spine.

They had been targeted.

Deliberately.

But by whom? Why now? Was it meant for him? For her? For both?

Questions tangled painfully in her mind, but there would be time for questions later.

For Farstine. For motives. For all the terrifying possibilities spiraling through her head.

Right now, she needed only one thing.

Sibylla’s fingers slipped into his curls, the gesture as instinctive as it was intimate as she pressed her forehead softly to his. With her eyes closed, the entire world narrowed to the warmth of him, the solid line of his chest, the breath they shared.

"Stay with me," she murmured gently. "Just… stay."

 

[Aurelian Veruna]

Location: This is all my fault.
Tags: Sibylla Abrantes

Aurelian kept her close as they moved off the pier. His arm was firm around her waist, the other still curled protectively along her shoulders. He forced his steps to be steady, but inside, everything roared: adrenaline, fury, and a cold knot of fear he refused to name. He didn't speak until they slipped onto the shadowed path leading back towards their speeder. Here, only the distant wash of waves followed them. He exhaled roughly, tightening his hold and pulling her closer, as if to shield her from the memory of the dock itself.

"I keep doing this," he muttered, his voice low and harsh with self-directed anger. "Getting you caught in the middle of things you shouldn't have to touch. My House's politics, my father's enemies, Farstine's filth. My past. All of it." His jaw clenched, the muscle twitching beneath her fingertips. "Even on Wielu. I say things, I provoke things, and then somehow you're the one paying for it."

He stopped walking, turning her gently until she faced him fully. The moonlight carved sharp lines across his expression: guilt, fear, and something raw. His hands framed her face, his thumbs brushing her cheeks in a touch that belied the violent strength he'd used moments earlier.

"You don't deserve any of this," he said, quieter now, almost hoarse. "You don't deserve to be dragged into the wake of everything I've been trying to outrun."

His forehead lowered to hers. His breath was warm and uneven, and he held her as if afraid she would slip away if he loosened his grip even a fraction. "I'm sorry," he whispered, the words pulled from somewhere deep and unguarded. "For tonight. For before. For every danger that finds you because of me."

He closed his eyes, resting against her, his fingers curling lightly into her coat as if anchoring himself. "I should be better at protecting you. Instead," his voice trailed off, swallowed by the waves breaking against the pylons, "instead I'm standing here apologizing after they've made another attempt on your life." He drew a steadying breath, still not letting go.

​

 

[Sibylla Abrantes]

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Location: Stop it.
Aurelian Veruna

It was the torment in Aurelian's eyes that stunned her. The guilt. The fear. The belief that seemed to be so deeply carved into him that he could not separate himself from the violence done in his shadow.

Shiraya, it broke something in her.

Yet before he could look away or retreat into that hollow self-blame he wore like old armor, Sibylla caught his face between her palms and forced him to see her.

"Aurelian,” she uttered in a low determined voice even though her pulse still thundered, "stop this."

She felt him stiffen, his breathing hard, but she didn't let him pull back.

"Do you truly think that if it were not for you, I would somehow be safe? That the rest of the galaxy would suddenly forget I exist?" A small, incredulous huff left her as if the desire to shake him rose. "If it is not one Royal House, it is another. If not Naboo, then some Senate faction. If not an assassin, then a kidnapping. Kalantha proved that well enough."

And while the pads of her thumbs gently grazed over his cheekbones, her tone stayed firm.

"I could have been taken instead of her. With or without you in my life."

His breath hitched, but she pressed on.

"This is the life we were born into. Politics and power paint a target between our shoulders long before we ever draw breath. That is not your doing. That is not your fault."

Before he could argue, she surged up and kissed him: briefly and fiercely as if to demand that he use his common sense.

Then she pulled away, exhaling hard as she refocused him while both her hands still framed his face.

"Alright. We were attacked. We deal with that. But look at me. Listen."

Hazel eyes sparked with adrenaline-fueled conviction that was determined to get him to see reason.

"It is because of you that I am standing here. Alive. Because you trained me. Because you insisted I learn to defend myself beyond the standard methods. Because when it mattered, you were there."

She breathed in shakily, shoulders rising as her lungs filled the cool salt sea air, gathering herself for what she said next.

"You cannot be with me every hour. And I cannot be with you every hour. But we can plan. We can prepare. We can build redundancies, safeguards, and strategies. Together. As one."

Sibylla let her hands slide down to grip the lapels of his jacket, not daring to let him retreat into that hollow guilt again.

"You are brilliant, Aurelian. You see threats before most people even suspect danger. And I… am not so delicate that I shatter because someone makes an attempt on my life."

Those tawny eyes softened as they searched the amber in his.

"Your father wasn't the first. Tonight will not be the last. That is the nature of the crown. Of power. Of the positions we chose."

She took his hands and pressed them flat against her waist, needing him to feel her. Touch her. See she was alive and whole.

"I am not naive. I have never lived in a bubble. I knew all of this when I ran for Queen. When the Houses moved against mine. I knew it when I stood beside you in the Senate Hall. I knew it earlier tonight when I told you I love you."

It was then that she let out a soft sigh, warmth threading through the certainty of her voice as she brought her palms flat to rest over his chest under his jacket, right over his heart, feeling the reassuring thud of its rhythm there.

A wave of warmth and affection softened her face as she took a steadying breath.

"Instead of apologizing, let me stand with you. Let me help you. Let my father help. You do not have to do this alone. Not anymore."

She leaned into him, canting her head to let her cheek nuzzle his, not caring for the smear of blood or their state of dress. She just wanted to reach him.

"Stay with me," she whispered again, her fingers sliding up and over his shoulders to the back of his neck. "Not as a shield. Not as a penance. But as a partner."

She tilted her head, hazel eyes lifting to meet his fully, her chest rising and falling with a steadier breath.

"And let me stay with you."

 

[Aurelian Veruna]

Location: You have me.
Tags: Sibylla Abrantes

Aurelian didn't realize he'd stopped breathing until she touched him. Her hands were warm on his face, her voice steadying his spiraling thoughts with a clarity he could never manage on his own. Her words cut through the panic twisting in his chest, landing with certainty. Each truth she spoke landed like an anchor instead of a blow. By the time she kissed him, fierce and grounding, something inside him loosened: the coil of fear, the guilt, the ache of believing he was a danger simply by existing.

Shiraya, she made him feel whole. Like all the fractured edges inside him finally had somewhere to rest. He exhaled slowly against her lips as she pulled back, leaning into her hands as if her touch was the only thing keeping his heartbeat steady. When she slid his hands to her waist; letting him feel she was alive, warm, steady, unbroken... his fingers curled there instinctively, thumbs sweeping slow, reverent lines as though memorizing her.

Aurelian bowed his forehead to hers again, but this time the tension was gone. His breath was still unsteady, but softer now, shaped by relief rather than fear. "You always do this to me," he murmured, voice roughened by emotion he didn't bother hiding. "You say things that make everything… make sense again." He let out a quiet, disbelieving laugh, warm against her cheek. "You make me believe in myself more than anyone ever has. More than I ever thought I could."

Slowly, carefully, he lifted her hands from his chest, threading his fingers through hers before bringing one of them to his lips. He kissed her knuckles with something earnest and unguarded, something only she ever got to see. "Alright," he whispered against her skin. "We'll do it your way. Together. I'll take your help. Your father's help. I don't want to do any of this alone."

His eyes rose to meet hers, amber catching moonlight, soft and certain. "And I don't want to shut you out of anything. Not anymore. You deserve all of me. Every part." He leaned in, brushing his nose along her cheek, nuzzling her in a gesture far more intimate than any kiss. His arms slipped around her, drawing her flush against him as he held her without hesitation or fear of crushing her.

"I'm not going anywhere," he said quietly, voice thick with devotion. "I'll stay with you for as long as you'll have me." Aurelian's hand came up to cradle the back of her head, his thumb stroking behind her ear as he breathed her in: salt, adrenaline, the faint scent of her perfume clinging to his jacket despite the blood. Then, softly, he angled her face toward his and pressed a slow, lingering kiss to her lips, one that held no urgency, only promise. When he pulled back, their breaths mingled, his voice barely more than a whisper. "You have me, Sibylla," he murmured. "You have me in any life time. I love you."

​

 

[Sibylla Abrantes]

​

Location: We'll face it together.
Aurelian Veruna

Sibylla had known.

It may not have been the words themselves, or the shape of them, or how they would sound falling from Aurelian's lips in that low tenor. But she had known in every look he gave her, in the soft way he nuzzled her cheek, in the fierce way he placed himself between her and danger without hesitation. She had known in every small surrender he'd allowed her to witness, every secret he revealed even while teasing her.

So when Aurelian finally said it aloud... when he bared that last, most vulnerable part of himself, it didn't feel like a shock crashing through Sibylla.

No, instead it felt like recognition. Like coming home.

So Sibylla drew in a slow breath as he held her, letting the moment settle deep to linger within it even as her lips slowly curved into an incandescent smile. There she watched him for a few gentle seconds, watching how the moonlight brushed over his features, highlighting the remnants of fury and fear still trembling through him, but beneath it all there was something else. Something reverent. Something that made her chest ache.

Oh, she understood why he had taken his time. Why he had circled the words like a cautious beast learning trust for the first time. Why he had waited until the dam inside him finally cracked.

She did not fault him for it. How could she?

Love coaxed rather than commanded. Revealed rather than forced.

And Aurelian Veruna had spent his whole life learning to armor and numb every tender thing inside him.

And while she was still feeling the aftereffects of the fight, her heart couldn't help but feel a subtle aching recognition. The same pull she'd imagined when reading about Set and Vere as a girl. The same slow unfolding of a bond that didn't strike like lightning but grew, steady and stubborn, like dawn rising over mountains. Not perfect, not painless, but real. Honest. Built on pieces of themselves they had slowly, cautiously begun to lay bare through the masks and armor of composure and pretense they'd worn all their lives.

Sibylla lifted her hands to Aurelian's face again, lovingly tracing the pads of her fingers along the line of his jaw. He leaned into the touch like he needed it, like she was the only thing keeping him anchored instead of spiraling back into guilt and rage.

She rose onto her toes to press her forehead against his.

"I love you too."

The words slipped out softly, but without hesitation, enjoying the moment. Not in spite of their near-death experience, but in addition to it, for it made it all the more poignant. To take the good and the bad. To be fully aware of what it meant.

Because in Sibylla's mind, the truth rose so clearly.

She'd been loving Aurelian for longer than either of them admitted.

In every teasing argument. In every clash that exasperated her as much as it made her feel alive. Every time he held her like she was something precious in a world that constantly demanded blood.

A soft breath of laughter warmed her chest, drawing him closer to her, memorizing how Aurelian felt, the beat of his heart, the look in his eyes. Eyes that constantly challenged and dared her in tune with that maddening smile of his.

Yes, even when you are impossible. Especially then.

I wanted you. Flawed. Human. Trying.

Sibylla's hand slid to the back of Aurelian's neck, drawing him in until their noses brushed, her smile ghosting his lips.

"You have me too, Aurelian. In this life. And any Shiraya dares give us."

Her lips brushed his in a slow, steady promise.

"And if fate insists on testing us," she breathed against his mouth, a quiet challenge to the universe itself, "then let it try. We'll face it together."