A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor
Chapter 1394 - 1394: Brilliance - Part 13

"It's a bit unfair," Oliver said. "I'll be giving you too much of a secret."

"Telllll meeeee," Nila begged, no longer playing coy, and instead pushing towards insolence.

"I did tell you that my parents were a rather silly pair, didn't I?" Oliver said. "My father especially…"

"You did," Nila said impatiently. "But what does that mean? What did they call you?"

"Nila, I got teased so often for this as a child," Oliver said. "Everyone in the village would see me do something reckless, and be like… 'oh, that's why they called him that, I suppose.'"

"Call you what?" Nila pressed.

"…I wasn't meant to be called it," Oliver said. "It was meant to be a placeholder, until they found a better name for me. Apparently, they already had a name picked out for me, for my birth, but when I was born, at the very last second, they had a change of heart."

"What did they call you?" Nila said. "What placeholder?"

"They never did change it. Apparently, it grew to suit me, and the whole village used it, and made sense of it, and it was pretty terrible. That might be part of why I was such a wild child," Oliver said.

"Oliverrrrr, tellllll meeeee," Nila said, pulling on his arm.

"I was born in a storm, Nila…" He said, heaving a long sigh. "So they gave me a name, equally as stupid as Beam. Tempest – my father's work."

"Tempest," Nila said slowly.

"And when I was rushing around causing all sorts of trouble, they would say, 'there goes Tempest, whipping up a storm again.' And when I would get angry with the other children, they would giggle and say 'oh, Tempest has a temper,' like it was the funniest thing in the world. But I was faster than they were, it wouldn't be funny for long," Oliver said. "Ah, what a little brat I was."

"Tempest…" Nila said again, considering it. "I like it."

Oliver pulled a face. "Not you too now. I told you that in secrecy. You've got to keep it to yourself. Oliver is practically the only proper name that I have. I suppose I have Dominus and Lombard to thank for that… Even Beam is so much less embarrassing than Tempest."

"Is it really that bad?" Nila said. "I think it's adorable. Especially for a wild child. I bet you were ever so cute," she giggled.

"You already know how embarrassing it is…" Oliver said. "Now I regret saying it."

"Don't," Nila said firmly. "I like it, really. I think it's a good name for you. I think with it, I understand a little more of you. And maybe, just a little bit, I understand how your parents saw you, and why they let you keep the name. Didn't the whole village like calling you it too? You must have been quite popular, even back then."

"Don't say it like that's a good thing. I was just a pain in everyone's neck," Oliver said. "That was the only reason I was well known. Just like people know the name of a terrible disease."

"Come," Nila said, pulling on his arm. "I'm glad that you've told me." She really meant that. She tried to show him that with her smile. He turned his head away from her, as if in shyness. That too, she found to be endearing. Finally, after it all, she had discovered the smallest thing that could make Oliver Patrick uncomfortable, and he had shared it just with her.

"Tempest," she said, when he turned away. She could practically see his shudder. He absolutely hated being called it.

"It was a child's name… Don't use it on me," Oliver said. "If you must call me anything different, then Beam will do."

"But Tempest is my name alone for you now, isn't it?" Nila said. "Isn't it a little treasure that you've given me? Will you not permit me to use it when we are alone?"

Oliver narrowed his eyes at her. They were close enough now, that she could make out all the details of them. Those eyes of his were as ever changing as the sky. They were a swirling stormy grey now, with just the barest flickers of gold. She wondered how they would have looked as a child – certainly not nearly as dangerous as they did now. Though he smiled, the air about him had changed. It was a forcefulness that she recognized, and had grown used to.

"If you must make such harsh demands, then I'll make one myself, Nila," Oliver said.

She quivered ever so slightly. When he had spoken earlier of his greed, she knew that he had not been joking. The beast of House Patrick, when he truly exerted the fullest of his presence, was enough to make most men tremble. And Nila did tremble indeed. Her heart shook. It was a different sort of fear. The fear of a dangerous animal that she had set about hunting. She liked that fear – she delighted in it. She held his gaze, with dangerous eyes of her own, letting him see her own desire written there, in those deep green eyes of hers.

As she wanted him to, she felt him study her, and she thought that, perhaps he had understood. When his fingers gently, but firmly curled under her chin, and brushed the side of her cheek, that thought turned to a distinct certainty.

"Fear me no longer," Oliver said. "For I am as flawed as they come. I am not some glass house that you need to tiptoe around. I have a desire – and that is for you. If you had thought to return my want, then that is the only thought that you need to have. We know each other far too well for a single mistake to shatter it all."

He spoke softly, but his words captured the entirety of her attention. She could think of nothing but him, and the face that had grown so close to hers. She noted the way it had changed, and grown harder with age, how the lines around his jaw had sharpened, and his eyebrows had grown sterner. Indeed, she realized too, just how the desire in them had grown. The years had not dulled his wanting, they had only sharpened it.