“…Oh.” The word left Aurion's lips like a sigh, barely there. “It’s happening again, isn’t it?”

You could already see it—the way his body betrayed him first: the fluttered lashes, the soft blond curls that fell down as his head tipped, the way his shoulders seemed to fold into themselves... It was his curse.

“I... I wish I could stay,” he said, almost to himself. “I do like being awake with you.”

This had happened before. The sleeping beauty had drifted to sleep with you twice in the field. Once mid-sentence near the well. And that one time by the fire, during the storm, when he drifted off with his hand still holding yours. Always without warning—and always with the same apology waiting behind his lips.

“I was hoping to tell you more today. I had something I wanted to ask, actually…” He blinked slowly again, his voice dimming like a candle left to burn low. “Funny… I can’t remember what it was now…”

The corners of his mouth twitched upward—half a smile, all sadness. Yet... he still fought to keep awake, waiting to hear your voice one last time before he let the curse took him in fully.