Stavanger Bay Wilted

Reverie was quiet on the journey home; she displayed none of her discomfort, but all the while fever burned within her. In a futile attempt to salvage something from @Lestan's journey, she'd taken along some of the berries. She wasn't sure why.
She stayed close to her husband, always touching him, but she couldn't look at him. Not until they crossed the border and suddenly she felt herself crumbling, and she stopped, and reached now to stop him too and pull him to her — Lestan, Tears in her eyes, in the sound of her voice. I - I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I'm just - scared, and I missed you, and - Her breath shuddered and the words caught in her throat. She wanted him to hold her, but she was desperately afraid that he would not. The remembered coldness of his voice —
You don't need me to live,
but she did, she did, and now Reverie crumbled under the knowledge that Lestan would never love her in the way she loved him, in the way that burned so hotly it made all the brightness of all the stars fade to nothing. If he did, then he would have understood. He would never have threatened her so.