Grant Me Your Grace

“Ow!”

Startled, Dahlia screamed and writhed. Her bleary eyes couldn’t make out the unfamiliar silhouette, and she shivered violently.

“It’s me, Your Highness.”

Just then, a familiar voice drifted into Dahlia’s ears.

“It’s Hissin.”

Hissin. At the sound of those first two letters, Dahlia’s eyes stopped trembling. Hot tears rolled down her pale cheeks.

“Your Highness.”

“Hmph…”

Dahlia stammered, reaching out her arms to grasp the hem of Hissin’s robe. The tears she’d been holding back burst forth at the sight of his face.

His red eyes darkened at the tautly pulled hem and Dahlia’s trembling hand that held it. 

After staring at it wordlessly for a moment, Hissin gently helped her to her feet.

He held her tightly in his arms as she staggered. The gentle touch on her back made her sob harder.

“Are you getting red spots again?”

His voice was heavy with emotion. The hands on her shoulders and back were gentle, as if they could help.

But Dahlia found it hard to answer as tears filled her throat. 

Slowly, she shook her head and felt the hand on her back tighten a little more.

“Then you must have a spot on your heart.”

With those words, Hissin asked no more questions, simply holding Dahlia in his arms and comforting her through her pain.

✨

The sound of a grasshopper buzzing came from far away in the distance.

A cool breeze caressed the nape of her fevered neck, and the exhausted Dahlia let out a low, shaky breath. 

Daring to hold her in his embrace, Hissin asked her in a faint voice.

“Have you calmed down?”

He waited wordlessly as she sobbed in his arms, and then, feeling a rush of regret and shame, she nodded slightly. She managed to clear her cracked throat and offered a belated apology.

“I’m sorry. I know that must have frightened you…”

Dahlia took a couple steps away from him, her head bowed low. Hissin obediently released his hold on her, still supporting her as she staggered.

“What happened, what happened to you?”

Dahlia bit her lip nervously at his question. The dank air of the dungeon she’d barely escaped felt like it was clinging to her skin once again.

More blood had been drawn during the day than she could count. 

Saltar had a man draw blood from Dahlia until she fainted, then repeated the process when she barely regained consciousness.

He put it all in a cart and took it somewhere, never knowing when or how it would be used, and trembled with fear all the way here.

What if the price of blood came before reaching the temple, what if I collapsed before I could reach the temple? 

If I’m found out and sent back to the Princess Palace, it would be hard to come back.

Well, then, Hissin. I feared I would never see him again. 

That she would have to endure the terrible pain alone. 

To be left alone again in that hellish hour. Her extreme anxiety gave way to flooding relief at the sight of Hissin, and she sobbed into his arms.

Dahlia glanced up. Her eyes were swollen from crying, but she couldn’t see his face. 

If I lifted my head, I could see him a little better, but I didn’t want him to see my face, which would have been a mess.

There was a moment of silence between us. I wanted to say something to break the silence, but my barely calmed mind couldn’t come up with a plausible topic of conversation.

There’s no way I’m going back to the palace anytime soon.

Biting her lip, unable to think of anything else to say, thankfully Hissin spoke first.

“May we walk for a moment, Your Highness?”

At the sound of that sweet voice, my heart, which had been trembling with anxiety the entire time, calmed down once again.

“…Yes.”

Dahlia nodded. Hissin’s lips curled into a thin smile, and he offered her his arm. She placed her hand gently on it, and together they walked through the temple courtyard.

The dry dirt crunched under their feet. The walk under the cloudy moonlight brought Dahlia’s heart back to safety after the brink.

But contrary to her expectations of a walk in the temple courtyard, Hissin led her closer and closer to the temple enclosure. 

Dahlia’s eyes fluttered unsteadily as the low wall grew closer and closer.

When they stood in front of the wall, Hissin held out his hand to her.

“Put your hand on my shoulder. I’ll lift you.”

“What?”

Dahlia looked back and forth between the wall and Hissin. She didn’t have to ask, she knew he meant to get her out of the temple.

Dahlia shook her head in disbelief.

“I can’t go outside.”

“It’s a cloudy night, Your Highness, and no one can see you but me.”

“But I can’t. If we’re seen, neither of us will be safe.”

For a moment, Dahlia looked overly frightened. Hissin took her white hand in his and said.

“Sometimes we humans draw the line further ahead than the gods have.”

Dahlia blinked slowly at the new information.

“Isn’t that to… control oneself?”

“I don’t know.”

Spreading her fingers, Hissin stroked the back of her hand slowly.

“Usually, to oppress others.”

Dahlia bit her lower lip hard. It felt like they were making fun of her, calling her a coward.

To me, this was a taboo worthy of death.

A grace that the goddess would never allow to fall.

“For some… that line is the will of the gods.”

“Are you sure this line drawn before you is the same?”

Dahlia looked at the walls of the temple with trembling eyes. 

The only freedom I was allowed outside the Princess Palace was up to the temple. 

Beyond that, there was no telling what punishment might befall me.

“Among the countless lines that surround you, is there not a single one that is true of human will?”

Hissin stroked her palm. His fingertips slid across her fingertips, pushing the dots apart.

His touch seemed to penetrate her mind, and Dahlia felt her eyes glaze over. 

Closing her eyes tightly, she shook her head.

“Don’t try to convince me. I can’t do it.”

“It’s only one step, Your Highness.”

With a stealthy touch, Hissin wrapped his arms around Dahlia’s waist. Dahlia shivered slightly at the familiar heat of their bodies pressed together.

Holding her gaze in silence, Hissin slowly lifted her.

“We don’t have to go far.”

“Ah…”

A lightly lifted body sat down on the wall of the temple. 

Dahlia looked around quickly, embarrassed by the heightened gaze, but Hissin leaped to her side and grabbed her chin again, taking over her vision.

“You don’t even have to look at anything else.”

“…”

“Because for this night, it’s just the two of us.”

Dahlia forgot to breathe as his breath rushed past her lips, close enough to devour them at any moment. 

Aside from the fear that they would die if caught, she was beginning to wonder what lay beyond this taboo line.

Was this an indulgence that Hissin had instilled in her?

No, maybe it was just pure curiosity that she’d been trying so hard to keep hidden.

When Dahlia did not object, Hissin smirked. 

With a light gesture, he crossed over to the other side and held out his hand to her. She swallowed hard and took his hand cautiously.

The grassroots. Her feet finally touched the ground after stepping over the wall. 

Even though it was ordinary ground, not unlike a temple, Dahlia gasped as if she had stepped into a forbidden paradise.

Fearful as if she had stepped on fragile glass, Dahlia lifted her foot ever so slightly and took another step forward. 

The sound of rustling grass tickled her ears like nothing else. 

The water rose, and the fresh blades of grass gently crunched under her feet.

A single step. I had just stepped over the temple walls, but it felt like I had entered another world.

A world of their own, a world that only the gods could create.

“I just crossed over a line, but the sky looks different, like I’m in another world, and the stars seem to be pouring down…”

As Dahlia gazed up at the sky with the curiosity of a child, Hissin smiled gently. 

Dahlia gave him a wry smile. She took his hand and stepped forward a little further.

It was the first step she had taken on her own.