Eyes falling briefly closed in the moment when Alice allows for her hands (her touch is warm, grounding above all else) to rest atop his own, all the King's protests are quelled, his retort of but I am a healer dying in his throat. It matters not, if Shunsui (though over-protective, though still nowhere near as stubborn as the Hero King himself) wishes to assert himself as the cottage's temporary caretaker, if Alice should see its benefit and allow it, but...
Ah? Alice's voice shifts, carrying with it not anger, not precisely, but a certain air of vexation which Sion knows now by route. His golden eyes open, only to meet with unflinching and unfaltering green, and perhaps there is (something of) a physical recoiling on his part when she intones the words if he's not falling on others as though they were a scolding. And they are, aren't they? She's caught him, and to perpetuate the lie that he is well, that everything is all right, would be too great an insult to her—Alice, who needn't be sheltered from truth, for she is strong enough to bear it.
(And it is Sion who is weak, who wishes to protect her still.)
And so: he bows his head, an apologetic smile playing upon his lips as he catches Alice's eyes with his own, offering two words (I'm sorry) before shuffling off to his bedroom, leaving his Lady in Shunsui's company.
(Though she is not entirely alone, for Cheshire is nearby, and Sion... well, his ear is pressed to the door, listening intently to the two voices echoing down the corridor.)
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Eyes falling briefly closed in the moment when Alice allows for her hands (her touch is warm, grounding above all else) to rest atop his own, all the King's protests are quelled, his retort of but I am a healer dying in his throat. It matters not, if Shunsui (though over-protective, though still nowhere near as stubborn as the Hero King himself) wishes to assert himself as the cottage's temporary caretaker, if Alice should see its benefit and allow it, but...
Ah? Alice's voice shifts, carrying with it not anger, not precisely, but a certain air of vexation which Sion knows now by route. His golden eyes open, only to meet with unflinching and unfaltering green, and perhaps there is (something of) a physical recoiling on his part when she intones the words if he's not falling on others as though they were a scolding. And they are, aren't they? She's caught him, and to perpetuate the lie that he is well, that everything is all right, would be too great an insult to her—Alice, who needn't be sheltered from truth, for she is strong enough to bear it.
(And it is Sion who is weak, who wishes to protect her still.)
And so: he bows his head, an apologetic smile playing upon his lips as he catches Alice's eyes with his own, offering two words (I'm sorry) before shuffling off to his bedroom, leaving his Lady in Shunsui's company.
(Though she is not entirely alone, for Cheshire is nearby, and Sion... well, his ear is pressed to the door, listening intently to the two voices echoing down the corridor.)