Azucena Clone 1 - Orpheus Confrontation
He hushed her and Azucena’s eyes widened a bit, shocked by his anger. In all of the time they had been together, she saw so many emotions from him. Desperation, melancholy, rage, and in all of those memories she had been the sweet escape he got from all of that. By day, he lived a hellish life as a duke, and by night, she was his wildflower in the ironic sanctuary of the black crow bar. At times, those crusty, yellow lights hanging above them reminded her more of home than her estate. If every day was a chore, then the tavern was the place they got to sit down and relax, be themselves for a bit.
She was the person with which he chose to be himself. The good sides of him, that were deep and insightful, when they could talk about their struggles synonymously. Never did she think she would be one of them.
It sort of took a turn on the way she perceived him. Once, he was a sad man, hobbling over the dirty floor looking for his shoe; a guy who needed a girl to talk to. And he was a bit of a starving artist, sharing all of his pain in beautiful ways. But now, they were not sat next to each other laughing. Instead, he towered over her, with betrayal glowing in the glare of his pupils. He looked tired, and there were bags under his eyes, his voice was raspier than she had remembered it, and he stood taller.
When she had spoken, he was always at his smallest, most vulnerable form. And although she saw the rips on his clothes for transfromation, she had never seen the beast he could turn into. In the inn, his handsome face made her want to pull him closer. Today, he was a monster sending her backstepping in fear. His breaths were weighted with fury, and she could feel his breath graze her skin in a way that made her feel so suseptible.
He only made her anxieties worse, and her skin chilled with him near. Then, he pulled her away, taking her to his room and she pulled back a bit, instinctively. Unfortunately, she remembered that no one was supposed to hear them talking, and so she bit her tongue.
They walked into his bedroom and it was everything she expected. Sheets of expensive fabric, tokens of his memories, a bed frame that would have been much nicer to have than the one at the black crow. He closed the door, and finally she sighed, letting go of her prior tension due to the way he had upset her. “Do not touch me.” She said, pulling her arm away from him.
One of the more brilliant parts of private conversations such as theirs was that Azucena was allowed to be herself. And that meant she no longer had to be the drab, docile and weak fair lady that was always getting stuffed into too-small corsets and lived solely to impress her mother. WIth Orpheus, not only could she be Azucena but also blue, and more importantly Lillith.
She liked to think of it as an alter ego, who was born based off the character revalations that orpheus inspired from her. Lillith was an independent thinker, with not only quiet, hesitant agreements but also opinions of her own. And her current opinion was that Orpheus, as much as he was allowed to hate her, was beginning to scare her a bit with his threatening demeanor.
Once again, he faced her and got close, asking her if it was true. Even doing it twice. She turned her head to the side, signaling for him to back away.
But once again, there was a question that Azucena had to answer, where no response she gave could save her from his hatred, so her heartbeat rushed again. She took a breath.
“Yes.” She looked down, ashamed of her dialogue. “I have lied to you, Orpheus, and I do not wish to do it any longer.” Finally, she had gotten the courage to call him by his name. She noticed his look of frustration, so she attempted to elaborate just as shyly.
“On the day that we met, I had turned the age of 18, and had not been spoken to by any of my friends. It was the only reason that I had snuck over to the black crow, I was crestfallen. I am sure you remember my former betrothed, Harrison. That day, aside from completing another year by myself, I had also seen him together in a carriage with Aurelia, your former courtship, who was my childhood best friend that had been ignoring me prior as well. So I ran off, and I saw you at the bar, and I figured you may have needed a friend… and that Lia might deserve some vengeance. I know that is not an excuse, and I know that it still hurts you, so I am sorry. I knew the whole time. I am sorry.” She said twice, heavily stressed seeing that his reaction would surely not be good.
But that was the opposite of what she wanted. Azucena was a complicated woman, and she was hurt by his small betrayal to her, so she had assumed it was most likely for the best that she no longer speak to him. But she never stopped caring for him. After only some months since their departure, there was still large part of her that remembered the tenderness of his lips, and the warmth of his touch that she had never seen be so aggressive.
Any semblance of tranquility in his expression had left his face. She could not yet digest that the moment had finally arrived. She had to drop her carefully curated theatrics, and instead face the truth. She could no longer supress the memory of the two of them, there wasnt an option to forget it anymore, because he knew the truth, and he was now a new man who hated her, not her Lang; forever frozen in her bittersweet memories.
She could not bear his irrationality as he began to rebuttal, putting her face in her palms and then getting back up in frustration. “But I did care about you, Lang.” This time, her voice grabbed just a bit more passion. “I did. and I meant the things I told you, regardless of what name I had used to share them.” Her voice softened. “I did, Okay?” She paused, placing her fingers on her temples, praying for a reaction that would not completely ruin them. “Please do not be upset.”
Once again, the words left from her mouth were things that only Lillith would dare to say out loud, because she was scared. She did not want her reputation ruined, but more importantly, she would not be able to live with herself if he hated her. She wanted to tell him the reason why she went away. Even when Azucena did not think of him, she could never forget.
@dandelionkate orpheus