An Annual

DG sat listlessly gazing over her balcony in Finaqua.
It’d been over an annual. An annual, full of not knowing whether he was happy or sad, or even alive. An annual, she’d told herself she’d needed to get re-used to the OZ and her magic. An annual, filled with pain and tears and hardships. And truth be told, she missed his presence desperately. She missed how his eyes would fill with mischief and desire when she disappeared and waited for him to find her. She missed how he would run his fingers through her hair as she went to sleep. She missed waking up to find him watching her with a smile on his face before kissing her and pulling her closer. She missed the stupid duty he felt to follow her every step. She missed how he laughed, loud and deep without a care. She missed the growl he gave every time she teased him. She missed everything about him and regretted more with every passing day sending him away for his better.
The wind picked up, causing the curtains around the open door at the back of her, to billow out and a giggle to play upon the air from somewhere in the castle. She paid no heed to the dropping temperature, as she hadn’t since she’d told him to leave. The chilly air passed through DG’s hair, flaring it about behind her, but her eyes stayed trained upon the hedge maze that lead to the castle.
“Highess?”
Immediately, DG’s posture straightened and she took on the persona of whom she used to be, before everything had become so screwed up. She turned with a half-smile, questioning the need of the messenger interrupting the little time alone she had. “Ye…” Once she saw who it was, she blanched, her grip on the chair tightening. “Jeb…”
Jeb bowed his head toward her, lowering himself down on one of his knees, a grave look on his face.
Sensing his hesitancy and unwillingness to say what he came to, DG felt her eyes begin to fill with tears. “No… not him… please not him…” she whispered, her hand coming up to her mouth in dread, wishing to God that he’d look at her with laughter in his eyes and that he’d been sent to tell her that Cain was on his way back. But when his eyes met hers, unshed tears swam within the deep blue depths.
“DG… I…” Jeb started, trying to console the grieving princess, but found himself unable to, having not dealt yet with his own grief. He turned his head away, looking out at the hedge maze struggling to clear his eyes of tears.
A sob caught in her throat as she wrapped her arms around her stomach, her breathing erratic and heavy. “I never told him…” She slipped off the chair, crumpling to the ground, curled in a ball. “I never told him…”
Unable to keep all of his tears at bay, Jeb let a few slip down his face as he crawled over to the fallen princess and took her weeping form into his arms, offering what comfort he could from the son of a man she loved.
“AHHH!” the cry reverberated throughout the area and DG looked up in time to see Glitch and Az in the doorway, worry on their features. Az came forward, a bouncing bundle in her arms. “She wanted you… I’m sorry, if I’d known…”
DG shook her head, dismissing the thought of being left alone with her thoughts as she took the bundle from her sister. Her tears lessened as she looked into the child’s face. “Have you been giving your auntie and uncle trouble Addy?” DG scolded lightly, her voice slightly raspy as she looked into the little girls eyes. Eyes, DG now had to keep from crying at, for they were the same blue-gray of her father’s.