Re: Hello, friend.
"No," Nate informed her, stiffened his back, and found the cold iron core that kept the sorcerer hungry and angry in his past. "You haven't done this..." Nathaniel challenged her thesis with the flippant style he'd questioned the way she'd approached him at her wedding - or when he clarified his order at a restaurant. "You made sacrifices when the world needed you to, you left your home and helped a literal god restore the universe," Nate reminded Eva, even though she didn't need such reminding. "Could I pretend to be your equal and not do that same?" he questioned, the balance of said universe a strong reason he accepted these trials, besides his obvious love for Eva. "My love for you won't change, regardless of whether or not we hold a press conference, and putting that stipulation on you wasn't fair, I see that now."
Nate lifted Eva's chin, joined their lips into a kiss, and allowed their tears to mingle. "More importantly," Nate added after the connection started to heal his strained soul. "Who's going to give you that steady flow of criticism to keep you grounded?" he pondered out loud, only partially joking. "You'll be blinding people with your crowns the second I return to Helheim," Nate teased, arms firmly around Eva. He had no intention of letting her go.