[Ben watches her, less openly curious than the man she knows, but no less intent; he sees the flicker of her smile, the way she doesn't cry, and above all that she means every word she says.
Trust is not something he does; it's not something he can do, outside of his unit. He learned that the hard way, confirmed over and over and over again, its own kind of conditioning, but she means every word she says, and she says he is something to her. He is a lot to her. And she is a lot to him.
Someday. He nods, finally, one precise motion; tenses and relaxes a muscle in his jaw. And in the kind of voice that secrets are told and secrets are kept, asks quietly:]
no subject
Trust is not something he does; it's not something he can do, outside of his unit. He learned that the hard way, confirmed over and over and over again, its own kind of conditioning, but she means every word she says, and she says he is something to her. He is a lot to her. And she is a lot to him.
Someday. He nods, finally, one precise motion; tenses and relaxes a muscle in his jaw. And in the kind of voice that secrets are told and secrets are kept, asks quietly:]
Are you a princess?