Ravin had become a ghost, haunting his own home. With the Midnight House vacant, he drifted through the halls, sometimes with a candle, sometimes just letting the darkness of the place envelop him. He’d become a man caught between worlds; never able to sleep, but never fully awake. The gauntness remained in his cheeks. The hollowness in his eyes.

No-rah.

And he could always hear the breathing.

Ravin hadn’t spoken to Norah about the creature that haunted him. Whose phantom hand always rested on his shoulder. There’d been no time, besides, there was no point in worrying her. Norah had to keep her focus on Cambria. He’d think of something. Solve the riddle of his condition. Then everything would be perfect. Soon, he’d be free.

No-rah.

He reentered the room, a bottle of wine in his hand. Thankfully, the bottle was unopened, so when Ravin’s hand released it, it rolled softly to the carpet. In whatever state of undress Norah was in, Ravin would rush forward and catch her face in his hands, kissing her with frightening desperation.

“Norah, darling…”

She’d feel how cold he was. Ice cold.

She had gotten down to just her under skirting, her hands finishing with undoing the lacing of her corset. A proper dress for court, but nothing she wanted to wear here. Not with Ravin. When he opened the door, she spun towards him slowly, guessing it was him with the clang of glass against carpet and then he was on her. He was freezing. So much so that she was alarmed as his lips pressed to hers again and again. While she kissed him back softly, she placed her small hands on his cheek and pulled back.

He didn’t look like he had gained much weight at all since she left, and now that she really paid attention, the Midnight House was too quiet. “Ravin,” her eyes searching his. Worry laced her words and she held him back just a touch. “You’re freezing, my crow. Have you been outside?” Her hand left his cheek and with some quick words she flicked an incantation to the fire place, bursting it back into flames.

“Come, sit. Let us warm you.” She tugged him closer, over to the rug directly in front of it and dragging a blanket with her as they passed the settee.

Ravin let her guide him. He breathed deeply of her perfume, the wave of relief that washed over him powerful enough to bring tears to his eyes. Norah was a life raft in an uncertain sea. She was what he clung to as he sat before the fire. My crow. The words were more warming than any flame, yet not quite enough to bring color to his cheeks.

“No, just this drafty old place,” Ravin said, trying to play it off with his normal jovial lilt, “Fallen into disrepair without its master. I suppose the house is punishing me.” If Norah tried to leave him, he’d stop her with a clinging, white-knuckled hand.

“But now you’re here,” He whispered, a sad smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, “Everything will be right again.”

Sadness soaked into her at his words. The place had become so quiet, so empty, and she remembered when it had been so full of life. Her hands moved to wrap the blanket around him, not liking how cold he was, and when she went to seek another one, it was those freezing hands that grabbed at her to still her. "I'm just grabbing another blanket." She told him, pressing her lips to his forehead and slowly pulling herself from his grasp. She didn't get far before she snagged another and quickly wrapped that one around the both of them as she sat down beside him in front of the fire.

"Ravin," she spoke his name almost like a plea. "What is happening? This..." she looked around at the room, then him. "This isn't like you. I know... I know I haven't been as around as I'd like. I've made a deal with the king to come back more often." She told him, her hands taking his cold one between hers and bringing it to her lips, breathing on his fingers before brushing her lips against them. She was worried, it was seen in how she gazed at him.

Ravin pried his fingers from her. Despite the chill in his bones, he didn’t shiver. He sat before the fire, still and cold as a marble statue. When Norah returned, he reanimated again, smiling up at her. He hated to see her worried. To know he was a cause of it twisted like a knife in his chest.

“No, darling—” He cooed, stroking her cheek with his thumb as his brow knit together, “No, I know you have to carry on. I know…” He put his other hand on the side of her face, knowing how cold it’d be but wanting to feel her smooth cheek beneath his palm. “I was away for a long time. It only makes sense it takes time to…come back again.”

Even now, he could hear the breathing. As if Malsumis wanted credit for his work.

He was so cold, so chillingly cold that it sank straight into her gut and her hands reached for him. Pressing her palms to his cheeks and pulling him closer, crawling more into his lap. Even though he was still not back to his usual self, he was still taller than her, and she was careful to not press too much of her weight onto him. "Ravin," she breathed his name, pressing her forehead to his and her nose touching the tip of his.

"You are my everything," she breathed, doing her best to curl around him and letting one hand fall to pull the blanket tighter around them. "Come live at my home... our home. In the countryside. You don't need to be here..." Not where the shadows seemed to be bigger than normal.

Ravin closed his eyes. He could picture it, the beautiful vision that had kept him alive for five years. A small cottage with blue shutters. Up on a hill where you could feel the wind off the ocean. They’d have a garden, and chickens, and little ones whose feet would pitter patter on their wooden floors. It was so beautiful, tears started to slip down Ravin’s cheeks.

His old life wasn’t here for him anymore. The Midnight House, the place that he’d carved out in the world, was gone. He had to let it go.

“The countryside,” Ravin echoed, a smile tugging at his lips, “I’d like that.”

A bloom of hope happened as he seemed to accept her words, that his smile told her he was happy to think of it. She nodded, crawling closer to his side and nuzzling her nose against his cheek. “Our home. We will make our life. No more secrets of you hiding here and me else where. Our bed. Our kitchen.” She tan her hands down his cheeks and neck, pulling him closer.

“A life we deserve. Ravin, our life. Let me help you move in,” she pulled back to catch his gaze, eyes wide and a smile on her full lips. She’d wait only a moment before kissing him again, pulling him close and trying her damnedest to drive that cold out of him.

“Our home.”

It was a vision so beautiful that it wouldn’t quite come in to focus, yet it was still enough. Ravin kissed her back with every ounce of strength he had left in his brittle body. He folded against her like a sheet, taking her heat as his own but not at all growing warmer.

His lips against hers, he started to cry. The tears came silently, one after another, as he whispered:

“I’m afraid, Norah.”

She hadn't been prepared for him to cry, her body coiling closer around him and she felt a deep sadness sink into her. "No, no, Ravin. My crow," she tried to soothe him but he was crying against her.

"Why? Why are you afraid? No one stands in our way anymore. It-" Or perhaps she just didn't understand. He had lost Ben in a way too... How selfish of her to not realize it until then. Her heart ached with a sudden dread.

“I just never—never came back…” It was the first time Ravin had admitted what they both already knew. He hadn’t. Not really. He only had one foot in this world. The other was still trapped in a cage, like the raven he’d been for five years, watching Norah suffer.

It felt wrong. Selfish of him to be absent while Norah had endured so much at the hands of her husband. Ravin had tried—was still trying to come home. He just couldn’t, even though he wanted to.

Norah, the woman who always had plans and ideas, back ups… for once, was silent. At a loss of how to help him when those words came out, and she felt a tear slide down her face at the admission. “I- I can fix this,” she didn’t even convince herself with it. Because what she had trapped within him had clearly been taking its toll. He was losing himself because of her.

From the beginning… he was losing everything because of her. And her being the the one used to getting her way, being the blind noblewoman she had been, had just assumed she could be with him and that would be enough. She could be enough. But with the empty midnight house around them… Ben now gone… and how cold he was. And she wasn’t even there now…

“I’ll fix this. I’ll come home… I will finish with Cambria and come home and we can try…” she was grasping for something. Anything. Because what she did know, was that she loved Ravin. And her life without him had been so empty and meek. One she didn’t want to go back to. “I’m so sorry Ravin. I should’ve… done more. I didn’t want this for you.” Her fingers trembled as she stroked his cheeks.

He believed her. He believed that she’d give it all away, burn the world down for him just so he might live in its ashes. Ravin pulled her close, trying to comfort her, so in love with her he thought his body might come to pieces. Why did it hurt so much?

“I know,” Ravin whispered, “I know darling. Everything will be alright.” He stroked the back of her head, still sucking the heat from her body into his that would not warm.