crumblingdisposition:

The flames licked around her body and she was certain the heat she was feeling was real. Honestly, she wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d have burns when she was awoken. If she was ever awoken. She couldn’t be sure how long had passed since she’d fallen under the curse, but it was already wearing on her. If it weren’t for the fact that she was completely conscious but unable to move most of the time, she wouldn’t have minded. 

But not being able to speak, to tell her parents who they needed to send for in order to break the bloody spell, that was driving her mad. It was making her go crazy as they speculated and spoke about needing the apothecary to hurry with a cure that may not even work. She wished she would have tuned them out, wishing for the flames sometimes, because anything was better than being forced to listen to them think up solutions that wouldn’t work and not being able to enlighten them about what would save her. 

The next time she came back to consciousness, the room was quiet, and she assumed her parents had left to go to sleep or eat; not knowing what time of day it was, it was hard to know for sure. But then she heard the latch on her door click, and she knew she wasn’t alone anymore. If she could have groaned she would have, for she thought her parents were back to unknowingly torture her with more brainstorming of things that wouldn’t help. 

But she heard her name in a voice that she thought she may never hear again. Killian. Her heart leapt in her chest and all she wished to do was fall into his arms. Except she was still as stiff as a log. If she thought not being able to let her parents in on who she needed to wake her up was maddening, knowing that he was there and she couldn’t even reach out to him. 

His hand pressed to her cheek, and she could have sworn she’d twitched her eyelids. Then his forehead pressed against hers, her face in his hands and she could feel her heart beating against her chest so furiously she was sure it could be heard. It nearly broke, however, at his next words. Sorry? Why was he sorry? This wasn’t his fault.

She didn’t have much time to think about it, because soon enough his lips were on hers and she wanted so desperately to kiss him back, but she was frozen. 

It took a moment after he pulled away, but soon she was gasping in a deep breath of air, filling her lungs. Her eyes shot open and she flung her body forward, arms wrapping around him in a hug. “You found me,” she breathed, chest rising and falling with each deep breath she took. 

Time seemed to move at a painstakingly slow pace, the world coming to a near standstill as he pulled away from her face and watched for any signs of improvement. And then she was awake, her lips parting to take a deep breath, and he was slammed back into real time.

She was awake, he kept repeating to himself in his head. She was awake and okay. Or at least, she would be.

Hardly a moment passed before she flung into his arms and he clung to her in return. The feeling of her wrapped in his arms, the gentle rise and fall of her chest against his – it was something he had begun to fear might never be something he’d feel again.

He pulled away just slightly, cupping her face in his hands and staring into her green eyes. “When my father told me the news – I came as fast as I could. Oh, Emma, I should have been here. You needn’t have suffered for so long if I had only been by your side.” The relief that was flooding him accelerated the speed at which he spoke, blurring the words together in a rushed jumble. 

Yet he didn’t bother to slow down or repeat himself. Instead, he drew her face closer, pressing his lips against hers in a frenzied manner, needing to feel her warmth and taste the sweetness of her mouth.

In the back of his mind, it bothered him that there was still a feud between their two kingdoms. If there wasn’t something so petty going on between them, they would have been able to be more open about their relationship. His father wouldn’t have been setting into motion a plan to be rid of Emma. He wouldn’t have had to sneak into the castle, or even hear the news from a court spy. He could have just been at the castle, in plain sight, to begin with.