Realization

Eva felt comfortable and strangely warm as she woke up.

'What is this warm feeling?'

Her mind felt groggy as she finally opened her eyes. As the blurriness cleared she noticed that she was looking up at Lucas.

'Are we still walking?'

No, there was not the familiar rocking motion. Were they stopped? Normally if they had stopped, Lucas would lay her on her bedroll and a warm fire would be going beside her.

The warmth she was feeling was actually Lucas himself. A blush warmed her face and she attempted to move away from Lucas. However, his arms were tightly holding her close to him.

'What do I do?'

She tried to think of a solution, but the only solution that came to mind was that she would have to wake him up.

'I can't do that.'

Should she just pretend she was sleeping until he finally woke up? It was embarrassing that there was nothing more she could do.

She felt Lucas' chest move suddenly, so she shut her eyes. The regular breathing pattern of when he was sleeping changed and she realized he must have woken up.

************

Lucas took in a sharp breath that woke him up instantly.

'Where am I?'

Looking at their surroundings he realized they were still in the spot he stopped the night before. Glancing at the face of the human girl still in his arms he let out a sigh of relief.

'She is still sleeping.'

He set her lower half down and felt her forehead. No fever. His fingers lingered on her cheek before he picked her up once more.

His heart thumped loudly in his chest. He should not have done that. Just because she was asleep? What was he thinking?

'I should have just set up camp like usual.'

He walked at a slower pace than before. If anything dangerous was in the area, they would have attacked them last night. He just needed to find a decent area near water to camp.

************

Eva's cheek felt warm where Lucas' fingers had caressed it. She had somehow tricked him into believing she was still asleep. If he had listened more closely he would have heard her heart beating loudly.

'Thud, thud' The warmth of his chest pressed against her cheek as he lifted her once more.

'Is that the sound of his heart?' She felt a warm blush enter her cheeks.

The slight rocking motion of Lucas walking made her thankful that Lucas was no longer paying attention to her face. He would have surely realized she was awake by the blush on her cheeks.

'Does Lucas care about me?'

A lot of different memories suddenly clicked in her mind. The realization caused her body to feel lighter than before. Her skin almost tingled where she could feel his touch.

She wanted him to care for her more than she ever thought she ever would. Her breathing felt tight as she remembered all the things he had done for her.

The rocking motions stopped and she felt her body being laid down into the bedroll. She waited until the sounds of the bags being set down and rummaged through ended.

She peeked and saw their bags, but no Lucas. Letting out a breath she turned over and covered her face with a blanket. There was no way she could process this new information while continuing to look like she was asleep.

************

After setting down Eva onto the bedroll, Lucas felt reluctant to leave her. He finally convinced himself that she needed a campfire to be warm. Becoming sick after an injury like that would be easy for a human.

He gritted his teeth and backed away from her and the bags. Finally turning away, he walked off to find wood to burn. It was becoming more and more difficult to be away from her.

Lucas knew that this was not just the imprint, but also his own personal feelings. He just could not ignore the deep ache in his chest. It wanted to be known. It wanted him to proclaim his feelings to Eva.

"I can't."

The cry within him echoed amongst the trees around him.

He jumped slightly when he realized he said that aloud. Lucas took a deep breath and slowly let it out. He found himself clutching the fabric covering his chest. How did he always end up here?

'What would telling her my feelings change?' he scolded himself thoroughly.

'The biggest issue is that she is human. Even if we got around that hurdle, who was to say she felt the same way?'

He continued to argue with himself until a large pile of logs and sticks were in his arms.

He knew that he had to return to the area of the camp. His feet instinctively had started walking back in that direction anyway.

He noticed Eva had rolled onto the side of her unhurt shoulder. She curled up into a ball and pulled the blanket over her face. He wanted to stay and watch her sleep some more, but he forced himself to pick up his bow and quiver.

He would need to redress her wound soon and give her more medicine. She would need food to recover more quickly. So he walked into the forest and began hunting.

It would also be good to scout out the area. He would need to be more thorough in his search of the area, to make sure there were no beasts hiding here as they had been near their previous camps.

--

'What do I do?'

There were two options for Eva. She could admit to Lucas that she had feelings or she could pretend she didn't know about his feelings. It should be an easy decision.

The path that admitted her feelings would surely be happy. A future with Lucas by her side settling down somewhere where no one knew either of them. It almost felt too good to be true as she thought about it.

However, she had decided to live for revenge and restore the honor of her family. Hadn't she?

The face of her father as his head fell to the ground was still clear in her mind. The sound of the sword filled her ears. She squeezed her eyes closed and covered her ears.

Tears fell down her cheeks immediately. Being with Lucas would just have to be a dream. She would never be able to fully rest until she found justice for her parents.

Her chest ached at this decision. Either choice would have brought her heartache. She would probably hate herself later for this decision.

The warmth that she felt when he embraced her would just have to remain a memory that she kept close to her heart. This was for the best. Elves lived a longer life than humans did, and Lucas looked to be on the younger side.

She was doing him a favor by not entangling him in a relationship that would be considered short in an elf's eyes. Sniff. She was doing him a favor all right.

******

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