Chapter Fourteen
“How did you come to be here?”
It was my turn to ask a question as we packed up for another period of wandering.
Or rather, it felt like wandering. I knew we had a place we were walking to, but I was tense and tired.
We were nearing the edge of the realm, and I was filled with too many nerves to think about.
My thoughts were a mess, and I was thankful for the ability to shed my cloak now that daylight had embraced us.
“I’m not sure.”
I blinked at Aleixo in confusion. “How are you not sure? Everyone knows when they cross a realm.”
“Well, I must have been unconscious because one moment I was there, and the next, I was here, laying in a meadow trying to get my bearings. Very confused, might I add.”
“Was there anything going wrong in your realm?”
He hesitated, a crinkle on his forehead as he thought about it. Those crinkles appeared less and less, so he must be adapting to the way things were in Coven Haven. “I was addressing a matter of importance, and when I went to bed, I woke up here. That’s truly all I remember.”
“How very curious,” I commented as we walked along. Glancing over my shoulder, I felt a shiver pass over me.
“Is everything alright?”
Looking over at him, I shook my head. It was best to be straightforward with Aleixo to avoid his endless stream of questions.
He talked more than even my father did, which came as a shock.
“We are nearing the realm gates, and I’ve seen nothing out of sorts.
Surely, the Realm Guard would have caught up to us by now. ”
Aleixo grabbed my arm, stopping me. “Do you mean to tell me you knew he would catch up? You knew we wouldn’t escape him, yet you still ran with me.”
“There’s always a chance,” I fought back. “I had to take that chance. Do you not agree?”
“I’m not even sure at this point.” He continued on, but my mind was already engaged elsewhere. Analyzing the sounds around us, the way the trees bent, the slowly disappearing shadows. It put me on edge, but I couldn’t place why.
“Are you listening to me?” he asked after what felt like hours.
“No, I’m doing my own thinking.”
“About what?”
I rambled off the first thing I could think of in an effort to ensure he didn’t know what was truly on my mind. The more worries I kept from him, the better.
“How is it that my life is dull as dirt for years as I watch my sisters marry off, then you show up, and suddenly, I'm bound, on the run, and wandering through a what man’s forest with nary a penny to my name while the leader of all realms is hunting us down?”
“A what man’s forest?”
“You know,” I replied. “A what man’s forest. As in, what man would possibly wander through this forest?”
“I don’t mind it.” He looked around like it was a fair he wanted to enjoy the rides in. “It’s got a good mood to it.”
“A good…mood?” It was my turn to question his words. “How does one define a forest with a good mood?”
“No, no, I don’t mean like a jolly mood. I mean, the vibe.”
“The vibe?” There was a fog rolling in, despite the early morning air. In fact, it may already be later in the night than I thought. It was hard to tell with the canopy of trees above us. “What is a vibe?”
He sighed in exasperation. “How is it that you speak in literal riddles every day, yet you can’t understand me when I'm speaking plain English?”
“Well, not many here speak plain English anymore. It’s nearly extinct, you know. We’ve developed into fancy English. Not to be confused with—”
“I know, I know,” he groaned. “A livable fancy.”
It was the first time I well and truly beamed at him. “Yes, precisely! Now you’re catching on!”
“For someone so obviously beautiful, your words sure hide their meaning.”
“What?” His words surprised me, and he turned to look at me. There was a red tint creeping up his neck, as though he just realized what he had said.
“What? A man can’t compliment his intended?
” he asked before he stopped and leaned closer, his voice gravelly and low, despite the fact that Dewdrop traveled ahead and there was no one else around us to overhear.
“I doubted you carrying shards of a star in yourself, but it’s evident in how your eyes sparkle.
As though the entire night sky is reflected in them.
An inky midnight beauty with the twinkling of a thousand stars.
Would you not define that as beautiful?”
His words were so out of nowhere that I couldn’t force my feet to move forward anymore. I was trapped standing where I was while this human took yet another step closer to me.
“I’m not sure what I would define as beautiful… I scarcely think about such things.”
There was no distance between us as he lowered his face closer to mine.
I could feel his warm breath on my skin and his eyes were so inviting.
Morning air was beginning to sweep over us as the night went to sleep, yet I could barely notice such things as he leaned closer still.
Had I fallen somewhere without noticing?
Had I fallen for him without noticing? Such a thing couldn’t be possible.
“May I kiss you?” His question was soft, and I had to strain to hear it.
“May you… What?” He had surprised me, and I wasn’t sure why he was bothering to ask when he was right in front of me and I was leaning into him just as much as he was leaning into me. Why would a man ask when it was evident in my behaviour that I was more than fine with such an action?
Then again, I wasn’t sure if it was evident—it wasn’t as though any man had paid attention to me before. I’d never had anyone say what Aleixo had said to me.
“May I kiss you?” he repeated.
Laughter poured out of my mouth before I could stop it, and my hand flew up, barely missing his face. “I’m so sorry. I just cannot believe you asked that. Why would one ask such a thing and not simply do it?”
He sputtered as he looked down at me. “I figured I would be polite. We don’t know each other very well, and it isn’t as though you’ve shown me any blatant signs of interest.”
“Why, I most certainly have!” I countered, then stopped as I blushed. I’d been more engaging with him than I had with any man before. Even I hadn’t realized how much I encouraged him until just now, so how would I expect him to realize it?
An eyebrow raised as he grinned at me. “Have you now?”
The moment was lost as I swatted his shoulder and kept walking. “You’ve lost your chance, Aleixo. One you very well may never get back.”
“Is that what you think?” His hand caught my arm just barely before he spun me, my hands flying up to brace them against his chest. He was inches away from me, a smirk on his face I’d never seen before. “We’ll see about that, won’t we?”
“No,” I said curtly, pushing off his chest and putting distance between us. “We will certainly not.”