The Spoilt Beauty And Her Beasts-Chapter 644: So if you are afraid, tell me. If you are tired, tell me. Do not only share the good things
After a while, Isabella spoke again, quieter. "You have been working too hard."
Kian did not deny it. He looked out at the dark sky. "This village is my home," he said simply. "Yours now too. I do not mind working hard to keep it standing."
"I know," she said.
Isabella looked at his quite figure. She rarely had time to be close to him now adays. She could barely tell if it was simply because she was too busy or he was keeping his distance from her on purpose.
For some reason she felt like after the incident that happened between them that night, Kian changed and became even more distant.
Maybe because he was hiding something way worse who knew. But Isabella did not blame him fully.
Even though his actions that day had really hurt her she could not help but think, he must he protecting her from something.
Her hand moved slightly, almost without her permission. She reached out and caught his sleeve, fingers curling lightly into the fabric. The gesture was small, but the warmth of his body under the cloth was solid.
Kian lowered his gaze to her hand, then to her face. His eyes softened even more.
"You, on the other hand, should not be thinking about walls and enemies all day," he said. "Your body is already doing heavy work." His gaze flickered to her rounded belly, then back to her eyes.
Isabella’s heart gave a small, strange jump.
"Are you lecturing me?" she pouted as she stared up at him feigning annoyance.
He shook his head. "I am... asking you to share the weight."
She blinked. "What?"
Kian searched for words for a moment. He was not Cyrus, who thought too much quietly. He was not Osiris, who could talk circles. He was not Zyran who was always good with words.
His way of expressing things was always straightforward, but feelings like this were harder.
"When attacks come," he said slowly, "your first instinct is to stand in front. When the village has problems, you immediately start calculating. When someone is hurt, you blame yourself for not preventing it. That is good for us. It is heavy for you."
He paused, jaw working.
"I am here," he finished at last. "If you hold too much, you will fall. So if you are afraid, tell me. If you are tired, tell me. Do not only share the good things."
The simple words landed heavily in Isabella’s chest.
She swallowed. Suddenly, her throat felt tight.
This silly lion.
Always like this. He would not make flowery vows, but one sentence from him could still make her heart soften into water.
Her fingers tightened around his sleeve. Without warning, she stepped closer and leaned her forehead lightly against his arm. She did not hug him, but the contact was intimate enough.
"I am not afraid," she lied quietly. "I am only... annoyed."
Kian’s arm tensed briefly, then relaxed. He turned slightly so that her weight rested more comfortably against him. His free hand lifted in a hesitant motion, then settled gently on the top of her head.
"Annoyed at?" he asked.
"Annoyed that the world keeps eyeing my males like meat," she grumbled. "Annoyed that Fifth City exists. Annoyed that my back hurts. Annoyed that even in a peaceful moment like this, I have to think three steps ahead."
Kian made a low sound that might have been a laugh. It rumbled through his chest and into her forehead.
He hesitated again, then shift his hand from her head to her cheek, fingers warm against her skin. With that same hand, he guided her gently so that her head rested against his shoulder instead of his arm.
"That is better," he said. His voice was soft enough that it felt like it belonged to this narrow corridor only, not to a lion king. "Lean on me properly."
Isabella’s heart beat faster for reasons that had nothing to do with fear.
For a moment, she allowed herself to relax fully. The weight of the day slid from her shoulders and into the warmth of his body. She could hear his heartbeat, steady and strong, like the pulse of the village itself.
"...Kian," she said suddenly.
"Mm?"
"If things get worse later," she said slowly, "and the world really comes for us, you are not allowed to think about sending me away to protect me."
His body went still.
She knew him too well. That thought had already crossed his mind.
"If you dare to do that," she continued, her tone turning sharp in contrast to their soft posture, "I will drag myself back even if I have to crawl on my hands. Then I will bite you. And I will also bite your tail."
Kian’s ears turned slightly red. A real, startled laugh escaped him this time.
"Understood," he said. "I will protect you by keeping you beside me, not by sending you away."
"Good," she murmured. "At least someone here has sense."
They stayed like that, leaning against each other, for a long quiet moment.
Inside her, the babies shifted lazily, as if sensing the warmth around them. Kian’s hand moved from her cheek to rest gently over her belly for a brief second, his fingers cautious, almost reverent, before he pulled back as if he had touched a sacred altar.
Isabella felt every tiny movement.
The calm of that moment was not real peace. Somewhere in the snow-covered forest, masked figures were moving silently, eyes fixed on the faint glow of the distant village. Somewhere above, old prophecies twisted and turned like threads waiting to tangle.
But for now, in this small corridor lit by a single lamp, the world narrowed down to one tired lion king, one stubborn pregnant goddess, and the unspoken promise between them.
They did not know how deep the trouble ahead would be.
They only knew that when it came, they would be standing like this.
Side by side.
