Song: On Purpose by Sabrina Carpenter
Your eyes
Crashin' into my eyes
Was I accidentally falling in love?
Your words didn't mean to heal the hurt
Were coincidentally more than enough
My dreams running into your dreams
It's as if we wished on the same star
And my time changing all of your time
It's a butterfly effect on my heart

Luke was right, Glacia pushed the trees aside to find Asher in the Night Garden. He sat below a tall tree with startling silver tendrils hanging from its dark green leaves. The garden was an incredible sight, no wonder it was where he always went. It was just as breathtaking as the first time.

It was quiet and peaceful, matching his manner at the moment. With one leg propped up, leaning against the oak, he was reading a book. Asher didn't look up when she came in, but she knew that surely he had sensed her entry.

She went over gingerly to his side and sat on the grass floor. Even though the green carpet of grass was pretty, it was spiky to the touch. Glacia wondered how he could sit there for so long.
"What are you reading? How to suck at leading a country?" She jabbed him lightly.

"It's a Realm." Was all he said. He did not mind her as he continue skimming his eyes past its contents. Even as he didn't want to seem like he heard her question, he shifted his hand just enough so that she could see his hardback book.

"The Finality." Glacia read off the neatly-kept rose-gold cover. "I never thought you would read such a tragic love story. This book is about sacrificing yourself out of love, because it would save them. Makes sense. You must be taking inspiration from it when you acted rashly like that -- trying to sacrifice yourself out of love." Her eyes darted to his accusingly.

He closed his book and settled it beside him. He finally turned to Glacia so that the light was cast fully onto his face. All she could do was gulp at how surreal-looking he was.

"I don't love anyone. I don't feel." He said simply, with that heartless emotion in him.

"Everyone has feelings." Glacia said quietly. She was amazed that she was able to utter full sentences. "I'm sorry that you have to live this way -- masking something, I have no idea what."

He raised an eyebrow, then laughed lightly at the thought of it. "It surprises me how you try to see the best in everyone."

Glacia laughed. Just then, Asher cupped her cheek harshly, his eyes bearing a quiet ferocity. The girl immediately went still.

"I can't believe you have the guts to laugh after what you did." He breathed.

"What did I do?" Glacia said defensively. "I thought you'd be thankful, I saved you..."

And suddenly, she was pressed against the oak. Glacia gasped when it happened. She was even more surprised by the look on his face. His eyes were so close to hers that her breath hitched. He leaned over her, burning with rage.

"You almost died! I couldn't have died, but you could have." He was overcome with ferocity. "Your virtus can be a dangerous thing, you know. I don't know who on earth thought it was a good idea to trust you with it--"

Glacia watched flames erupt behind him, casting light over him so his leaning figure looked both menacing and beautiful at once.

He was only looking straight at her. "Under no circumstance are you allowed to do that again, understand? I won't be there to save you all the time..."

She pried him away from her, and surprisingly, he let her. Her voice was firm.

"Teach me how to control it then."

"I can't. You have to do it yourself. For starters, it follows your emotions, so stop feeling..."

He paused just as Glacia's face reddened. Did he know? If it follows what she felt, what did she feel when she saw him at the battle..?

Asher seemed to try to push that thought aside as he picked up the book again. He was looking at it, but Glacia knew he wasn't actually reading it. She bit back the sudden urge to laugh.

"Go away, Glacia. Why take the interest in talking to me? You should be repelled by me, as everyone else is."

She sat beside him and leaned against the oak as well. "Trust me, I'm not repelled by you."

She recalled a happy memory. "My mother would always say I played with fire. If you're the embodiment of fire, I'm not afraid of you."

Asher gave a long look, an emotion in his eyes that Glacia couldn't recognise. Just as quickly as it came, it vanished from his face.

"Oh, Glacia. Then maybe you should be afraid of yourself. You're a terrible liar — that could very well be your downfall. I thought you said you didn't know anything about your parents."

Shit. She looked at him slowly, watching to see if he was mad about it. Instead, his amused eyes proclaimed no devil.

She was beginning to trust him. It was a scary thought.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. I know about your mother living in San Francisco, anyway." He closed his book. "Just that you need to be more careful around here. If you are truly elected as the leader of the Insurgents, I think you'd be making it easy for me."

"Wait, what?"

So he knows. What else does he know? She folded her arms and looked at him challengingly. So what if he knows?

"Your mother came to find me once."

She sat up straight. "Why did she come and find you?"

All this time, Glacia had thought her mother had hidden far away from the Royalliers. She had said that she was done with that realm.

So why did she meet the Crown Prince?

He explained carefully, "There are some Royalliers who are Prophetic Regiis. They can see the future of some Royalliers, and they had seen your mother's before. If you look for them, they can give you your Vision, a snippet into your future. After she learnt of hers, she came to see me."

"Why would she look for you after seeing her Vision?" Glacia's mind raced. Now she was too aware of how she had missed Livia being around her. She wondered how she was doing now. She had promised Glacia that she would be fine, that Cindy and Malcolm would take care of her. That she shouldn't contact her until it was safe.

But when was safe, exactly?

He shook his head, avoiding eye contact. Some of his dark hair had fallen to his face. "That's for you to learn from her yourself. Do you miss her?"

"Well, of course I do." Glacia huffed. "And you should have told me about her looking for you, sooner. If she trusts you, then I would have too." She told him pointedly.

Under her breath, she muttered, "Then I wouldn't have even pondered about the Insurgents."

"You know, I could arrest you for outright declaring that."

"But you wouldn't."

He raised an eyebrow, moving closer to the girl. "What makes you think I wouldn't?"

Suddenly, they were both aware of their proximity. One pressed against a tree and another towering over it. The space between them charged with electricity.

The sky above them flickered; its iridescence shone over them both.

It turned a lovely shade of blue for a moment, covering them in a quilt of stars and comets even though it was still daylight. It was like a scene from a romantic movie, and she gasped at the beauty.

"Are—are you doing that?" She breathed, reaching up to let a butterfly glide on her fingertips. Her breath tickled Asher's cheeks.

"No, but I know who is." He suddenly moved away from her, and Glacia sighed. Why she did that, she had no idea.

Glacia reached over and picked up his book, brushing against him briefly only for her to withdraw as if she had just touched something hot. She cleared her throat and spoke. "This book is a bad influence to you. It makes you think you're helping everyone else by concealing your emotions for them. Instead, they're getting hurt from it."

His eyes were dark and narrowed. "Fine, you're right about some part of it. But I don't tend to feel things often, anyway. Still, I'd rather you stop thinking of me as someone silly for doing what I do. I had not been careful about Amalyse, and look where it got me? He threatened her life, in exchange for the throne. I'd give the latter away without a doubt for her, but it hurts that I'm sacrificing the people for it."

"I don't think of you as silly." Glacia replied levelly. She still had so many hesitations about this boy, but she was starting to feel the ice melt. Maybe the effects of freezing herself had gotten to her, but she was certain that it was concern that she felt when she had wanted to come here.

When she entered, she had scanned him for his injuries. She could never tell -- he had concealed his pain too, and the lights were too low for her to see the wounds.

"Maybe you don't have to sacrifice the people for it. I'll help you take Amalyse out of the Realm, if you teach me how to fly a plane. Everyone else knows how to stay and fight, right?"

Asher's face twitched a little. "I don't think I can trust you with a plane yet, but we have other modes of transportation here."

"Let's strike a deal then. I'll join your Comrades, and help you fight, provided you help heal my virtus when it gets out of control."

Asher should have been happy. It was much easier than he'd expected it to be to make her side with him. Instead, he was doubtful. He watched her eyes, which were gleaming with more honesty than he'd expected to see. "So I have to stick around you constantly like a pet, just to make sure you don't freeze yourself?"

Glacia laughed, throwing her head back as she did. Her hair fell over her shoulders, spilling like the moonlight rivers. She was something else when she was genuinely amused like that.

"And in exchange, I'll stick around you to clean you up when you get hurt, seeing how you don't know how to bandage yourself properly, and you fear that your virtus would hurt others. It can't hurt me."

Asher was wearing a wine-red shirt or purpose. Glacia noticed just moments ago that it was to cover up some of the blood that was coating his side. He had rolled the bottom up and tied a bandage around his waist carelessly — a bandage that was so red with blood that it camouflaged with the shirt. Even if his face was healed from the battle, his body was still injured.

Glacia sighed, lifting his hand gently so she could see the wound. She hadn't thought too much about the gesture, and on second thought, pulled back and saw his unreadable stare. She gulped and looked away.

"I'll heal you, and help bandage your wounds. Now, how do you heal someone..?" Glacia tried to pick out his aura and tug at it from where their hands connected. She wanted to reach out for it and let the heat of his powers flow into her. That would heal him from some of his pain. However, it was harder to find the connection than she had expected.

"Not there." He shook his head. In one quick movement, he moved her hand over and let it drop down to his side. It made her fall forward, hitting him over as well.

"Here."

Glacia gasped at what he had done. It hit her like a truck -- how close they were, how her fingers were touching his side — the bandage had given way so she met his bare skin.

Her breathing hitched. His grey eyes were inches from hers.

Glacia gulped and broke the eye contact. She proceeded to look down at where his wound was. Was I doing this right? She felt the heat leave his body and sap some energy of hers, so surely it was working. She felt a little sore from removing his pain -- some of it had hit her as well. All this time, she didn't know that healing a person would hurt too. This whole time, he'd been healing her...

Suddenly, he brushed her hand away and wheeled back as if he was punched in the face. "That's enough." His voice was raspy and low.

Glacia sat back too and searched for words to cover up the silence, but she couldn't.

That scene kept replaying in her mind — that moment of her leaning over him, the electricity she felt under her fingertips... Was that part of the healing, too?

Asher pushed himself up. With a grunt, he managed to rise, and she followed in his stride.

"I... I don't have much to do now. Everything is passed on to Callum, so it's about time I took a break." He said in a cracked voice. "I'll.. uhm.. take you to see Livia. "

"Really?"

Then, Glacia frowned a little. "She told me not to go back to her, that it wasn't safe."

"She fears that if other Royalliers will know you're her daughter, that would put you into a lot of danger -- if you want to know why, you can ask her. But I can make sure they won't know that. The only concern is that the Rogues might be looking for you now that they know your virtus is just as strong as mine. It'll be a dangerous mission, but if I tag along I'll try not to let you come to harm."

"I'll be armed better this time." Glacia said. "I'm not going to let some Rogues scare me off."

The corner of Asher's lips tugged a little.

Glacia pulled out the balisong that Asher had let her keep. It was entwined with silver stars was sturdy in her grip. The weapon was small, but somehow she liked the safety of its feel.

Asher looked at her with awe for a second. Then, that look vanished.

"If I bring you there, promise me that you'd help me take Amalyse out of here once the King dies."

Once the King dies.

"Deal. Let's go, shall we?"