love isn't enough of a drug

Azure did not expect Lyre to disagree, to argue with him or to deny that she was capable of any task he set upon her. Her nod and confirmation was exactly what he had anticipated from her and yet, Az struggled to get the words themselves out. He thought he had prepared himself for what he had to command of her, but imagining stating it aloud was much harder than it had been shouting it silently in his mind.

He sighed, the bristled fur along his spine smoothing as his anger dissolved into disappointment. Collecting his legs beneath him he sat, and gestured for Lyre to do the same. "I... can't rule out.. that she wanted to be apart from me." Azure admitted, the iron all but faded from his tone. Tearing his gaze from his servant, he focused intently upon the wall to his side. Eyeing each crack in the stone, tracing the shapes, attempting in some way to disconnect from the conversation he was forcing himself to have. "I've heard that some sorts of herbs can have negative side effects if you let your body grow dependent on them and then stop them suddenly. That they can make you increasingly uncomfortable the longer you are off them, the longer you are away from your fix."

Hana was a diplomat in rank, and while Sirius would surely allow her a period of rest after her capture, one day she would roam again. It was a certainty, something Azure could not argue or manipulate. How long she would leave and how far she would go, however, were things he intended to have a very direct hand in deciding. "I can't lose her, Lyre, do you understand?"

"Speech"