He leaned closer to her, and she felt less afraid, looking into his surpassingly intense ice blue eyes. Like he had so many times before, he caressed her cheek in his hand. By the Divine, it felt so … normal!
"You are my Tulyr," he said, smiling gently at her. "You're my little flower. And I still love you. Tell me, can you love me, even though you have seen the truth of myself?"
Mericlou mouthed out a word.
"Say it, Tulyr," Aldrec said.
"Yes …" She said in a voice choked to the edge of audibility.
"Say it!" Aldrec said, the hiss of his quick enunciation hitting Mericlou's soul like a lash. It filled her with a mixture of pain and pleasure alike as her wide amber eyes remained locked upon his intense blue ones.
"Yes!" Mericlou yelped out, and thrust her hand into his. She rushed forward, and threw herself into an embrace, kissing him with fervor and with passion all at once.
She felt the tears flow down her cheek as she held on to him, feeling her lips on his, pressing into them, simultaneously needful and terrified.
Forgive me, Tulyr, his voice seemed to whisper into her mind. It sounded on the verge of grief.
At last, releasing herself, she opened her eyes. Aldrec was once again the Aldrec she recognized: all the fire and energy drained away. And once more, tears fell from his eyes.
"Tell me, love," she said, wiping the tears away, "Why are you crying now? Haven't you shown me what you wanted?"
"I have," Aldrec said soberly, solemnly. "And yet I have not."
"I really wish you'd stop speaking in cryptic phrases," Mericlou said, feeling just a tinge of exasperation.
"I'm sorry," Aldrec said. "I'm nothing if not a product of my upbringing."
"Even High elves were cryptic?"
"Oh yes," Aldrec said, his voice pleasantly nostalgic. "You have no idea just how much so. As a matter of fact, this was only one of the reasons that our kind was forced to leave." "So you didn't all die?"
"Well, of course not," Aldrec said, with a tiny bit of indignation. "I'm here, aren't I?"
"I'm sorry," Mericlou said with a small laugh. "I don't know what I was thinking. It was just something I read somewhere. But why were you crying? Hadn't you shown me the complete truth about yourself?"