The Daughters of Merlin
Chapter 15: Doubts

Grace opened her eyes to see that Mordred was laying on top of her. He had thrown Zana’s blanket off of her, revealing her naked body, his violet-black eyes dancing with mischief and evil, illuminated by the two candles that were lit beside her bed.

“You forgot to say goodbye.” Mordred said before leaning down and kissing her, his hand wrapping itself around her neck and squeezing down on it.

Grace bolted up in her bed, letting loose a scream of fear. Just as she realized that it had been a dream and that she was alone, the door to her room burst open as Virgil appeared in the doorway, the knife that Grace had made him in his hand. The only thing he was wearing was a pair of brown breeches.

Virgil quickly scanned the room, however upon realizing that Grace was alone, he looked back at her and blushed, looking at the ground out of respect for her, seeing that during her sleep she had thrown Zana’s blanket off of her and so she was now naked. As if reading his mind, Grace blushed as well, grabbing Zana’s blanket and quickly wrapping it around herself.

“I-it was just a nightmare.” Grace said, looking down.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Virgil asked, glancing back up at her. Once he saw that she had covered herself, he looked at her fully, catching the shy nod she gave to him as confirmation.

“Well, then . . . Goodnight, Angel.” Virgil said, hesitantly grabbing the doorknob before leaving the room and closing the door behind him.

“Virgil, wait!” Grace shouted, her uncovered eye widening.

Virgil stopped, entering the room again to look over at her. Grace blushed, biting her lip and reaching to play with a strand of her long hair which was no longer there before placing her hands in her lap.

“Could you stay here . . . with me? I . . . I don’t really want to be alone.” Grace said, whispering the last part though not so quietly that Virgil didn’t hear it.

“Of course.” Virgil said, his expression softening.

He entered her room, closing the door behind him before walking over to the bed. Grace scooted over, moving closer to where the candles were on the nightstand where Spark was curled up in a ball, watching the scene unfold, though Grace didn’t see that she was awake. Grace laid on her side, facing Virgil, watching as he set his knife down on a table beside his side of the bed.

“I hope you don’t mind the candles too much. I can’t sleep in the dark anymore.” Grace explained.

“It’s fine, Angel.” Virgil replied, laying down next to her on his side so they were facing each other.

Virgil scooted closer to her, stopping so that there was about a foot of space between them, not wanting to make Grace too uncomfortable. He reached over and began to play with her short hair. He found that he kind of liked it short.

“Why do you keep calling me that? You of all people know that I’m far from angelic. I honestly don’t know why dad named me Grace. He should’ve just stuck with Jynx.” Grace said, looking at her hand as she ran it along the bed sheet, drawing on it with a thin layer of frost.

Virgil sighed frustratedly. He tugged on her hair causing Grace to wince though he made sure not to pull hard enough that it would continue to ache later on. This merely caused her to look up at him surprised.

“Why do you keep doubting yourself? You are not a burden to me, Zana, or Merlin. You are not a curse. So you may not be a perfect angel,” Virgil shrugged a bit. “But you’re still an angel.”

Grace shook her head, looking down at the sheets again, ashamed, speaking quietly. “Angels don’t have scars. They don’t have missing eyes. They don’t allow people to . . .” Grace’s voice caught in her throat as tears gathered in her eye. “Take advantage of them.”

Virgil sat up, leaning on his arm. Grace shifted so she was laying on her back so she could still see him. His brown eyes were stern, but also full of love.

“How do you know that? Have you ever seen an angel before?” Virgil asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.

“No.” Grace glanced down at his bare chest before blushing and nervously meeting his gaze once again. “But you haven’t either.”

Virgil leaned down so that their faces were only an inch or so away from each other. “Not only am I in love with one, but I’m looking right at her.”

Grace bit her lip. She remembered the night Virgil and Zana had rescued her. How she had thought that she would never get the chance to tell Virgil that she loved him. She wanted to tell him. But what if he made fun of her? What if he was just playing with her emotions like Mordred had? How could a prince like him ever love someone as scarred as her?

Grace lifted off her eyepatch, revealing her empty eye socket. Virgil didn’t even flinch at the sight of it like she had expected him to.

“Look at me, Virgil. What could you possibly love about me? How could you love this?” Grace gestured at her eye.

“I love your scars because they are a part of you. I love them because it is a testament to your bravery and strength. It’s a reminder of how close I had come to losing the only girl I’ve ever loved.” Virgil assured her, causing her to blush and bite her lip. He gave her a fond smile as he tugged on her hair much more lightly than before, so much so that she barely felt it. “I love the color of your hair and your pointed naiad ears.” He ran his finger along the outskirts of the edge of one of her ears.

“I love the color of your eyes, well, eye.” Grace gave him a small half smile, continuing to bite her lip. Virgil ran his thumb along her bottom lip, causing her to let go of it, focusing on the feeling. “I love how you bite your lip when you’re nervous and don’t know what to say. But above all and because I loved seeing you laugh and smile so much so that I’ve been trying ever since the first day we met to get you to do so.”

Grace sighed, grabbing her eyepatch from him and putting it back on. “You’re crazy for loving me.”

Virgil’s smile disappeared and was replaced with a frown. “And you’re crazy for not loving yourself.”

“No,” Grace looked up at him, making eye contact. “I’m crazy for loving you back.”

“You are cr - Wait, what did you say?” Virgil looked at her surprised.

“I said I love you too, though you really shou-” Grace found herself interrupted by Virgil who placed his lips against hers. It took her only a moment before she kissed him back.

Without fully pulling away, both of their eyes still closed and his lips hovering over Grace’s, Virgil smiled. “Your lips are cold.”

“Well, maybe you should kiss a regular girl then.” Grace said, opening her eyes at this.

Virgil opened his eyes as well, his smile never leaving his face. “But I only want to kiss you.” He said before doing just that.