Chapter 51 The Creature #2
I sat down on a bale of hay, admiring her from afar.
I could see her form, backlit by the raging fire, though nothing could compare to the one that burned inside of her.
The passion, loyalty, and strength—she was terrifying.
But right now, she was like some goddess, in the presence of fire as fierce as herself.
It was like I could see her as time slowed.
Her hair whipping around her as she spun, her smile brighter than ever, like no one was watching.
Her cheeks were red from the excitement and joy of just being free.
There was no one here to see her, no mask to wear, not a soul to judge.
I was blessed to even witness her in a rare time such as this.
It pained me terribly that she couldn’t always be this free.
Her frozen breath came out like smoke as she stumbled away, panting from the excitement of the dance. She walked over to the edge, far away from the heat, until she reached snow, flopping down on her back, cradled in the white powder.
I walked over to her slowly, as if I were approaching some wild animal that might flee at the sight of me. “You look feverish.”
“I feel happy.” She watched the endless sky, flakes of snow dappling her hair and making her cheeks look bright red.
I lay back, staring up at the stars next to her.
“Do you ever think about how we got here?” she whispered.
Her eyes never left the stars, and mine never left her. The reflection of them in her eyes was fitting, as they were wide with wonder, large enough to hold entire constellations in them.
“Why would you think on the past?”
“Because the future is infinite, and it is easier to wonder about things before us. Don’t you ever wonder?” Her eyes met mine finally, her chest rising and falling as she was regaining her breath. Her smile was so bright, so genuine and alive. It was so beautiful I could weep at the sight of her.
“I don’t think I care much for anything that came before you.” The words fell from my mouth; I hardly believed they were mine.
Her smile faded, but I quickly learned it wasn’t from displeasure. She rolled over on top of me, cupping my face as our lips locked.
My eyes were wide, and I couldn’t bring myself to close them immediately.
I hardly believed she was real most days.
I thought the scene would disappear if I blinked and woke up for it to have just been a hallucination.
The moment was something I didn’t expect, but it made me think maybe I was the feverish one, in the midst of a dream.
I snaked my arms around her, a hand resting on the back of her head as I deepened the kiss.
She was perfect. My beloved tempest of storms and rage, of the quiet calm before a rumbling thunder, a force strong enough to move the stone that sat in place of a heart.
Her lips were so cold it made me want to devour her entirely, to make sure she was never leeched of warmth again, to be the only one who touched her flesh until the day she died, and even then, I would sit at her grave until she returned to me in her next life.
I didn’t care how long it took; what good was being immortal if you didn’t have something worth living for?
She broke our kiss, her lips just above mine, a teasing distance.
“Do you love me?”
“No,” my reply was nearly instant, and my heart squeezed tighter. “Love is too weak a word to describe what I feel for you, but simultaneously the only word I have to describe it.”
She was staring at me, the stars behind her shimmering like a halo around her.
“I feel that if you left this earth, the stars would die, and the flame within me would smother along with them. I would stay by your side, even in death, until I, too, started to decay where I stood. I would gladly feed the birds, the bugs, and become foliage as nature intended, right beside you.”
“Silas . . .”
“I know where our deal stands, but I wanted to ask you the right way.”
I slowly reached for the lapel pocket of my coat, producing a small, shimmering item.
“Please, Alina.” I held her face close with one hand, our foreheads touching, my thumb brushing over her cheek. She was so warm, so alive. I closed my eyes because I was afraid to look at her. I held the item between us. “Be mine.”
I waited, my mother’s ring pinched between my fingers, my heart on display like a flayed man.
“Will you ask me to do it?”
“Do what?” I opened my eyes, our heads still touching, but her eyes were on the ring before they held my gaze.
“To turn.”
I didn’t want to offend, but I laughed. “I could never make you do anything.”
“Why haven’t you asked me to turn?”
I let out a long breath and leaned my head back, resting it in the snow. “I know you well enough to know that if you wanted to turn, you would have asked me already.”
There was a pause, then she moved.
When I looked again, she had slipped her finger through the ring, her face hovering so close to mine. “Then yes, you have me.”
Something overcame me, and I wrapped my arms around her tightly, holding her head against me. I feared I would suffocate her within my grip, but I didn’t care. I thought it would never come, where I could hold the only thing that mattered to me.
I kissed her, softly at first, then harder again, and again, unable to contain my excitement. I was only elated that she kissed me back, that I was met with laughs, and her hugging me tighter instead of pushing me away.
May we never be rid of each other for as long as we live.