He was never going to be able to say a bad word about Alfred again. He was sure he would have felt this too, even watching the rest of the rescued arrive - but he scarcely saw their faces, hinged as he was on just one.
He had planted himself a little past her family, and remained rooted there while they each folded her into their arms the way he very much wanted to. Instead Evander dug his fingernails into his palms, deep enough to reassure himself this was real, and waited, trying to smooth the creases of his face away from the expression that had lived there for the last few days.
“You’re alive,” he said hoarsely, having not dared to believe it until this precise moment, until Caroline was here in front of him, finally close enough to touch. Thank Merlin. And perhaps he had meant to restrain himself, stay back and just take stock of her - the cracked lips and sea-ruined dress, the same bright eyes set in her sunburned face - but taking her by the hands did not seem enough. So he wrapped his arms around her in sheer relief, not knowing how to verbally express his gratitude that she had not died. “I thought -” He shook his head uselessly. That he would never see her again.
He had planted himself a little past her family, and remained rooted there while they each folded her into their arms the way he very much wanted to. Instead Evander dug his fingernails into his palms, deep enough to reassure himself this was real, and waited, trying to smooth the creases of his face away from the expression that had lived there for the last few days.
“You’re alive,” he said hoarsely, having not dared to believe it until this precise moment, until Caroline was here in front of him, finally close enough to touch. Thank Merlin. And perhaps he had meant to restrain himself, stay back and just take stock of her - the cracked lips and sea-ruined dress, the same bright eyes set in her sunburned face - but taking her by the hands did not seem enough. So he wrapped his arms around her in sheer relief, not knowing how to verbally express his gratitude that she had not died. “I thought -” He shook his head uselessly. That he would never see her again.
