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Treason	By : Dagian Category: +G through L > Lineage 2 Views: 832 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I own nothing, NCSoft regrettably does, I make no profit off of this story that is based on Lineage2.

Chapter List
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Caellia awoke slowly the next morning. Shifting, she realized that she was lying down on her side. She frowned slightly in confusion; she had not fallen asleep like that. Raising her head, she wondered where Nathavin was. Looking around, she saw him sitting quietly near the entrance of the house. The cool morning air caused her to shiver and she pulled the blanket around her tighter, realizing that he must’ve covered her with it at some point during the night. She made no move to get up, and neither did she make any attempt to hide the fact that she was awake. If Nathavin knew she was awake he gave no indication of it.

            Hearing movement behind him, Nathavin knew that she had finally awakened. He had let her rest late into the morning as he planned for them to begin her night training later that evening. But as much as he needed to focus on her training, his thoughts continually came back to the night before. Her quick acquiescence to his request last night had piqued his interest. What had made her relent so quickly to him? He knew that she had been extremely fatigued from the day’s training and their fight and could have given in out of sheer exhaustion. But, something told him that was not the whole reason why she’d relented so fast. There was another reason. Could her quick response have been induced by fear? It was certainly possible, but he didn’t think so.

            After a few minutes, she stood up and stretched. He still hadn’t moved a muscle, seemingly deep in thought. Shuffling over to her pack, she dug around quietly, looking for another bandage and container of healing potion. The scratches on her hands had opened slightly when she’d stretched her arms upward and she didn’t want them to become infected. Busy looking through her pack, she didn’t hear him stand up and approach her quietly.

            “I found the bandages and potions. Sit against the wall and I will clean the cuts.” Nathavin told her in hushed tones, courteously keeping in mind that she had recently woken up and that normal speaking tones would probably be unappreciated.

            Caellia looked at him guardedly, mildly uncomfortable with the fact that he’d obviously gone through her pack. “That’s alright, I can clean them myself.” She cautiously replied. His face was an unreadable mask as he looked down at her. Caellia held his gaze for a while before lowering her own. Since he had all the bandages and potions, there was really no point in arguing with him. With an exasperated huff she thought to herself, it wasn’t as though she’d be able to force him into giving up the supplies. Getting up, she moved to the wall and obediently sat down; watching him gather the supplies from where he’d stashed them.

            Nathavin watched her settle down from the corner of his eye as he retrieved the bandages and potions from his pack. He’d known she wouldn’t want him to clean the wounds again and had taken the liberty of removing the supplies from her pack, allowing her no room to argue with him. Standing back up, he crossed over to her, watching as she leaned back against the wall.

            Caellia watched him for only a moment longer before closing her eyes and laying her head back against the wall. She heard him approach then kneel down in front of her. Keeping her eyes closed, she heard the rustling of the bandage as it was unwound and the sound of a cork being pulled from the bottle of potion. She flinched lightly when he took one of her hands in his.

            Nathavin inspected the wound of her left hand closely as he cleaned it. It would heal soon. This was probably the last application of healing potion it would require. His gaze flickered to her face briefly. Her eyes were closed as if she was dozing. His heart stopped for a moment when she opened her eyes and fixed him with a direct stare. What was she thinking?

            Opening her eyes Caellia was surprised to see him staring at her. Why was he looking at her? She held his gaze for a brief moment before breaking it while muttering softly. “This really isn’t necessary Nathavin. It’s just a few superficial scrapes.” Caellia was anxious to get him to stop. His sudden tenderness after yesterdays fight was threatening to overwhelm her. The urge to simply give in and tell him what she felt was almost overpowering. She knew that if he continued this she would not be able to keep her promise to herself. If he continued to treat her with such gentleness her defenses, what little she had left, would lower and then crumble altogether, leaving her completely vulnerable to him. Somehow, she had to make him stop!

            Nathavin watched her closely, noting that she had pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and was lightly biting it unconsciously. She only did that when she was uncomfortable. She was unnerved by him doing this. This simple act of kindness from him was unsettling her. Why? Deciding to ignore her comments for now, he began to clean her other hand. “Superficial or not, if they aren’t properly cleaned they risk becoming infected.”

            Caellia let him continue for a bit longer before pulling her hand away abruptly and standing up quickly. “That’s enough. My hands are fine now.” To prove her point, she deftly scooped up her bow and experimentally pulled the string back and let it go in one fluid motion. “See, the cuts don’t even bleed anymore.” She showed Nathavin the backs of her hands quickly before asking as she moved away from him. “Where are we training today?” Caellia was desperate to change the subject, and his attention, to something other than her while she brought herself back under control.

            Nathavin simply stared at her intensely. “We are taking the day lightly in order to rest. Tonight you will begin your night training.” He moved to stand closer to her, reaching out a hand to trail through her hair. “For today we will just relax.”

            “So that’s the reason why you let me sleep so late then?” Caellia asked, turning away from him, quickly avoiding his outstretched hand as she moved back to her pack several feet away.

            “It is.” Nathavin’s eyes furrowed as he lowered his hand, staring at her in confusion. Why was she so nervous all of a sudden? And why was she doing everything to avoid looking at him. “We will not do anything for the remainder of the day. I don’t want you to tire out before nightfall.” He moved closer to her again. “I don’t want to push you too hard on your first night training here.”

            “Nathavin I’d like to begin training before nightfall.” Caellia began as she once more moved away from him, taking her pack with her. She continued to dig through it, using it as a means to avoid him for a little while longer as she pretended to search for something.

            Nathavin’s gaze narrowed further in irritation as he watched her. He walked towards her. When she began to move away he commanded her imperiously. “Stop avoiding me.”

            Knowing that she could no longer avoid him, Caellia looked at him pleadingly as she slowly inched away. “Nathavin, don’t...”

            “Don’t ‘what’, Caellia? Don’t come near you? Why?” As he fixed her with a discerning stare, a theory began to take shape in his head. Could it be that she didn’t want him near her because it threatened her perceived safety? Could his tending to her wounds have made that profound an impact on her? He tried to reach out to her again, and again she evaded him. “Why won’t you let me close to you Caellia?”

            “What are you talking about? I did let you close to me. I let you put healing potion on my hands.” Caellia countered shakily, backing away from him as he began to advance on her. She didn’t like the way his eyes had narrowed to mere slits, their grey depths shuttered as his lashes lowered. He only had that look when he was focused on a difficult problem. As she looked around she realized he was slowly corralling her into a corner.

            “That is not what I meant Caellia.” Nathavin could tell she was getting more nervous with every step he took toward her. “Why are you so skittish Caellia?” He could tell that she’d realized what he was doing and was looking for a way past him. “There is no way by me.” When she didn’t respond he snapped at her. “Come here!” While Nathavin didn’t raise his voice, the words were short and clipped.

            “Why?!” Caellia wasn’t able to keep the panic out of her voice.

            “Do I need to have a reason?!” Nathavin barked back, glaring at her. His chest heaved as he kept a tight rein on his emotions. He could feel the dark blood rising slowly within him and forced himself to calm down. He growled lowly to himself, disgusted with his lack of control over the dark blood. He turned and took several paces away from her, giving her room to get around him.

            Caellia wasted no time as she moved to a section of the building that was near one of the exits. She had no intentions of being cornered again. But what had caused him to back away? Sighing softly as she decided not to dwell on it, she began to reorganize her pack and clean her bow to pass the time until dusk since he showed no sign of continuing her training until then.

            Nathavin listened to her go about whatever tasks she’d set for herself as he replayed the events over again in his mind. She had seemed fine when she woke up. And though she hadn’t been overjoyed with the thought of him cleaning her wounds, she had let him. It wasn’t until after he’d been cleaning her wounds for a little while that she’d gotten spooked. Or, more accurately, she hadn’t gotten spooked until she’d caught him looking at her while he was cleaning her wounds.

            He turned to face her, propping up with his back against a far wall, watching her as she meticulously cleaned the grime from the many nooks and crevices in her bow and checked the tautness of the string. His mind flashed back to their time in his home village and how relaxed she’d become with him. She’d become so relaxed around him she’d even allowed him to kiss her neck. His blood boiled as he remembered her innocent response. She had been shy and nervous, but relaxed. His fingers curled into a ball in his fist as he glared at her. He wanted that closeness back! He would have it back!

            Caellia chose that moment to look up at him and involuntarily shuddered before looking quickly back down at her bow. He had a look of determination about him, like he’d made his mind up about something and wouldn’t be diverted from his goal. As she continued to clean her weapon she couldn’t stop her hands from trembling.

            His thoughts centered on his applying the healing potion and her reaction as his gaze turned introspective. He’d only meant to show her that he was truly sorry for hurting her. It was the best way he knew to apologize to her and ask for forgiveness. He knew that the only way of getting her to lower her defenses enough to re-establish their emotional bonds was to show her that he could be gentle and tender with her. His breath caught and his eyes widened in excited revelation. That was it! It was all so clear now! She didn’t want him to get close to her emotionally because if he did she wouldn’t be able to keep from confessing her love for him! Why hadn’t he realized it sooner?!

The simple act of being gentle, showing that he could be tender was having a profound effect on her! His being tender and gentle meant he could get close to her emotionally! And since she was trying to avoid that so that she wouldn’t confess her true feelings she had put up emotional barriers. When she felt that her emotional barriers were in danger of being brought down, as when he was being gentle and tender toward her, she would put physical distance between them as a way to better handle extreme situations. Situations in which she felt she was close to losing control!

But his method of asking for forgiveness had been chosen for the explicit purpose of overcoming her emotional defenses that she had put up after their fight. He had not known, had not even considered, the fact that she might’ve been using those same barriers as a way of distancing herself enough from him to avoid confessing her love.

It was the only logical reason for her to have been as nervous as she was earlier. He’d been too close to getting past not only her defensiveness after his attack on her yesterday, but all of her defenses. Defenses she did not want taken down at any cost. His goal was much closer than he’d thought! But how much closer? Was he close enough that he could overcome her defenses without knowing exactly what caused them? He refocused his gaze on her, wondering. But how could he get close to her now that her hands were healed enough to not need the potions? He thought back to their earlier conversation, the one in which he’d asked her to come to him and she’d asked why. In the heat of the moment he’d been unable to come up with a sufficient reason for why. Now he could. She was to be his wife. That alone was reason enough.

Caellia looked over at him again and a chill shot down her spine as his keen eyes locked with hers. What was he thinking? Why was he staring at her so intently? As their gazes locked and held, a feeling of foreboding flooded through her. Something in his perceptive gaze was different. He was calmer, much calmer than she’d ever seen him. While he’d always carried himself confidently, he had an air of certainty about him that was disturbing. Her breath caught in her chest, he knew something!

He continued to ponder the issue for a bit longer. Caellia would not give in easily he knew. She would struggle against him. And though he wanted to be gentle with her he knew that she would likely try to drive him away using any means she could, including purposely trying to anger him. His jaw set at the prospect. This would be a very delicate endeavor on his part. He could not let her anger him to the point the dark blood took over, nor could he simply let her continue to pull away. No amount of yelling or angry displays would tear her defenses down and yet he knew that gentleness alone would not win. Gentle force was called for. Their battle would have to be a battle of will. He would simply have to prove to her that his will was stronger than hers and that he would not be denied.

With quiet confidence, Nathavin watched her thoughtfully for moment before pushing himself away from the wall and slowly strolling to her. He stopped only when he was a few scant feet away. From this distance he could see the fine shivers that wracked her body. Her long hair swept the floor as she craned her head back to look at him properly.

As she watched him come away from the wall, Caellia tried to get up, tried to get her body to respond and move away. But it was almost as if he’d entranced her and her body refused to obey her. All too quickly he stood towering over her, and she was forced to lean back awkwardly to look at him. It was uncomfortable in more ways than one. It firmly reminded her that he was dominant. He was the dominate one in the alliance that they’d formed. And once they reached Goddard, he would be her Lord, dominate over her!

Nathavin was well aware of the parallels between their relative positions. He’d specifically chosen to approach her in this way because of those parallels. He decided to stand over her for an extended period of time just to ensure that she drew the same parallels. Judging from the way her face was coloring, he knew she had. He drew out her discomfort a bit longer before moving behind her and sitting down, placing a firm hand on her shoulder when she made to scoot away. “Stay still.” Though he spoke calmly, he made it quite clear that he expected her to obey. He settled back against the wall and drew her closer to him, hugging her close to his right side while resting his head against hers. In hushed tones he informed her calmly. “We will wait here together, like this, till darkness falls. From now on, you will not leave my side. I will never be far from you, and you will never be far from me.”

Caellia shivered. This was far different from any declaration he’d made before. He hadn’t yelled. His voice had not been raised. There wasn’t a trace of anger anywhere within his tones or even his body posture. She felt his fingers begin to move lightly through her hair. “No.” She muttered, shaking her head as she began to feel relaxed and sleepy. Eva take him for using this against me, she thought angrily.

“Yes.” He caught the strands in a light fist, stopping her from shaking her head. When she stilled he went right back to combing her hair with his fingers. He allowed a small contented smile to play on his lips when he felt her relax and drift off to sleep. He was stunned into shocked silence a little while later when she began to struggle weakly in his arms and began crying out in distress while she slept, obviously caught in the midst of a nightmare.

“No! Don’t leave me! Please don’t! Don’t betray me like this!” Though still asleep, tears fell from her closed eyes and small trembles shook her body. “Nathavin, don’t betray me, please!” Her voice grew lower, little more than a whisper as she continued, clutching his arm tightly in her sleep. “Don’t leave me…please…I love you!”
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Treason