I'd Give Up The World For You

Rukelion deflected the question as best he could even though he already knew the answer Daisy would give him. It had been in her file. 

She sighed and swirled her straw around in her water. "I've been here my whole life. I'd love to leave but, as you know, moving out of state is expensive. I'd have to do house hunting trips too since I wouldn't bother until I had enough money to buy my own land. Then I'd have to find a new job out there. Realistically, I'll be stuck here until I die."

He shuddered at the reference to her dying. It had already happened right in front of him once and he had only been able to find her again because of a fluke. He didn't know why her soul had gone to Mirea while she was comatose in her original world but that was the only reason he had been able to get her back. If she died again there would be no coming back from that. 

The thought disturbed him so much he couldn't stop himself from reaching out and clutching her hand like it was his lifeline. She looked at him in surprise but didn't pull away. 

"Have you always lived in Pittsburgh?" Daisy asked since he hadn't said anything in response to her little speech.

"No. I've lived all over the place," Rukelion said truthfully. 

The castle in Katalya. Cloverfield. The royal army barracks. The military camps in Aveleen and Zel. The officer's row. The castle in Mirea. Pittsburgh. Now here in Cincinnati. He had hoped it would be his last stop but if Daisy wanted to move he would follow her anywhere.

"I can relate to that. Even if I've been in this city my whole life I can't tell you how many times I've changed houses. Was your family military?" she asked. 

People in this world must move a lot if they were in the military based on the casualness of the question. His family hadn't been but he had. It wouldn't be completely dishonest if he said yes to her question. 

"Yeah. My dad was an officer. We went where he did," Rukelion said with a great sense of irony. 

His father hadn't been a military officer. He had been. But she would never believe that considering his age. The military worked differently here; based on his research you couldn't even join up until you were eighteen. He had looked it up for the sake of his backstory if anyone asked. 

So much of his identity was gone. His country, his magic, his name, his former jobs. How much of Rukelion Blaze was left that wasn't some twisted version of him that blasted woman had written in a novel?

Though he had been curious why he was a popular enough character for someone to recognize him on the street and think he was dressing up as himself in a costume, he never looked into it. Honestly, he was afraid to. It wasn't necessary to his plans being reunited with his wife so he hadn't bothered. 

That novel was what ruined his life not once but twice. He wasn't afraid of what would be inside it. He was afraid of getting so furious he unconsciously burned something down. 

"An officer?" Daisy asked, impressed. "What is he?"

"He was a lieutenant colonel," Rukelion lied again. "It really wasn't that big of a deal."

"Was?"

"Yeah…he's gone now.  My whole family is." 

His father. His mother. Georgios. Llyris. Kessia. His unnamed baby who never got to see the light of day. Everyone was dead but the woman sitting across from him and she couldn't remember she had ever been his family at all.

Daisy looked horrified. "I'm so sorry! Way for me to be a terrible date. I never would have said anything if I knew."

"Don't worry about it. It happened a long time ago," Rukelion said as calmly as he could. 

Some of it anyway. The rest was so recent he still had nightmares every night. Honestly, he wasn't sure any amount of time would be able to fully heal him of the horrors of his past. His inability to let go of his hatred about the incident had been what led to Daisy dying upset with him. 

He couldn't take that back. But now that he had a chance for a clean slate with her he would never let ANYTHING come between them again. He would do whatever he had to do to keep her happy. 

Being with her and living a peaceful life was now his only goal. Anything else would likely continue to torture him for the rest of his days but he couldn't think about that right now. 

They were distracted by the breadsticks being brought out and Rukelion ate one even though his appetite had vanished at the reminder of what he had lost. He couldn't let that get him down right now. He needed to focus on winning Daisy over. 

She was clearly worried she had offended him as she nibbled on a breadstick of her own. He needed to reassure her that she hadn't. 

"So what do you like to do aside from garden and bake?" Rukelion asked. 

Daisy seemed relieved by the change of subject. "Not much, honestly. I'm pretty boring. I normally prefer being outside to watching a lot of TV but I was laid up for a couple of months due to a pretty bad accident last fall and ended up bingeing as many shows as possible before I started going crazy from not doing anything. 

"Once my arm got better I got into crocheting, knitting, and embroidery of all things since I still couldn't walk around much and needed to have something to do. I listened to a lot of podcasts while doing that so now I'm full of obscure knowledge and have a trash bag full of hats and scarves I've been meaning to donate to a homeless shelter.

"I improved my cookie and cupcake decorating too since it primarily involved my right hand and it was my left arm that was immobilized. But that kind of counts as baking, doesn't it? I told you I'm boring." 

"I don't think that's boring at all," he told her. 

He wasn't familiar with TV shows or podcasts though he knew what they were after being here long enough. Going crazy from not doing anything sounded just like her miserable days in the castle. It wasn't a pleasant reminder. 

Daisy had known how to crochet and knit but that was back in Mirea. When she lost her memories she lost the ability to do those things as well and would have had to relearn them. 

"What do you like to do then?" she asked. 

All of the things he liked to do were things he had done with her. Gardening, helping her bake, sitting around laughing and talking, playing silly games during the harvest. He didn't know how to put all of that into words. 

She already knew he liked gardening based on their conversation in the nursery so he included that in his very short list. "Gardening and reading. I'm even more boring than you think you are."

Daisy rolled her eyes. "There's nothing boring about either of those things. What do you read?"

"Nonfiction." 

Rukelion hadn't seen the point in consuming any fictional media since his arrival here. There had been far too much to learn. Nonfiction had been one of the most useful tools in his arsenal since coming to this world. 

He blended in seamlessly because of it, aside from his hair and eyes but there was nothing he could do about that. He was done hiding what he looked like. Even if it did mean people occasionally mistook him for himself. The whole thing gave him a bit of a headache. 

Daisy smiled. "A man after my own heart. I can't tell you how many plant and flower encyclopedias I read when I was younger. Everyone thought I was crazy for not reading YA novels like other people my age."

Rukelion returned her smile, his heart hammering in his chest. Her full smile had a devastating effect on him. Was he going to be able to handle seeing this all the time while resisting the urge to kiss her? Because he was already struggling hard. 

"There's nothing wrong with that. No wonder you're such a genius when it comes to flower care."

She laughed. "I wouldn't call myself a genius by any stretch of the imagination. I'm just good at memorizing things. But if you ever need any sort of flower advice or identification I'm your girl."

"What are the red ones in the bouquet I got you?" he asked curiously. 

"The red ones are red elf alstroemeria and the little white ones are bacopa monnieri if you were wondering about those too. I know way, way too much about flowers. It's kind of weird, isn't it?"

Rukelion shook his head. "Not at all. It's a rather useful skill to have. But even if it wasn't, things don't have to be useful to be worthwhile.. I can tell how happy flowers make you so it definitely isn't weird."