CHAPTER XXI #8
I take a deep breath in Keane’s arms and let him maneuver us closer, his strong steps leading us through the large roots of wood and granite that are twisting above the ground.
He lifts his hand at our side to summon a few of the roots near the massive trunk, the easy movement making the limbs cross over eachother to create a small gathering that looks like it could be the start of a campfire.
I look back at him in question and watch as he chuckles, his fingers moving once more with a tiny flick.
The small cluster of roots he just commanded immediately lights to fire, the glow illuminating the tree above and brightening the space around it.
“What in the…” I breathe in astonishment, watching as new, undying flames reach up to just the right amount of height. I glance back at Keane with furrowed brows, every breath I take hitting heavily against his chest…
Keane can summon fire?
“Picked that up from Barnes,” he grins proudly, nodding to my unspoken question.
“Ancients, Keane,” I shake my head in pure marvel. He brings his hand back to my ass and gives it a hard squeeze.
“I want to see all of you tonight, Alexis,” he replies.
I sag farther into his chest and look back at the Oak as Keane’s hands slowly press me into him.
We’re roughly half-way to the massive trunk now, still standing within its roots but under the canopy of the sweeping limbs above us.
I watch those thick brown and black arms sway with the breeze and stare at the intricacy of the wood and granite as they move around eachother in perfect harmony.
I sigh at the sight again just as Keane gently releases me from his grip, the Prince letting my boots find the ground below me before he takes a small step back.
I start walking towards the fire and to the Shadow Oak’s massive trunk, hearing Stormfall caw from somewhere far above. The Bird of Ash is perched at the very top of the oak, his black body sparkling under the night sky and looking so right there.
I reach the trunk and let my hand skim at my side, feeling the wood and granite mixture as I take a few steps around it.
The small clearing where Keane and I slept before departing for Fumagalli isn’t far from the fire he built, and as I stop to eye it, my heart tugs at the memory of Keane sitting so perfectly on that ground, the two of us trading secrets into the night.
My eyes dart for the man of my memories, noticing that he’s still standing where I left him. A shy grin spreads against my lips at the sight of him, especially at the way his brown eyes are staring so purposely on me.
I feel something brush against my fingers and look down to my right hand, noticing a small limb reaching out of the trunk. The wood and granite is moving gently between my fingers and sliding over my palm, the soft limb reaching out even further as it snakes around my wrist.
I glance back at Keane in amazement, knowing that he’s doing this, and watch him grin in return when the branch holds my hand to the trunk in a soft new possession.
Ancients.
I let out a deep breath and take a step towards the flat ground, feeling the limb move with me before it gently releases my hand. The branch shrinks back into itself and becomes part of the oak again, but the absence of its touch on my skin only makes me miss him.
“Say the words, Alexis,” Keane demands from afar.
I take a deep breath and let his gaze hold mine, his brown eyes so intense and commanding that I rest my hand firmly back on the trunk, willing it to support me. Keane’s gaze flicks to my hand with a small frown, his boot taking a small step as if he wants to come console me.
“Stay there,” I demand of my own, willing him to stay in place so I can appreciate the man standing in front of me.
His presence, as always, is commanding under the oak.
His shoulders rest tall and proud, the black of his shirt falling perfectly across his muscled chest and arms. He watches me take him in with his own confidence, following my gaze as it moves to his angled Discerni jaw and cheekbones before landing on the cut of his ears.
His wind-swept brown hair falls gracefully over the top of his head, his brown eyes dancing in the firelight from afar.
He certainly is the most beautiful man I’veever laid eyes on, masculine and tall and so sure of himself and his being.
I give Keane a smile of genuine approval and stand proudly in front of him, ready to give him all of me. Keane holds my gaze hard and nods his head just slightly, letting me know that he’s ready to hear the words.
“Do you remember the first thing I said to you when I saw you standing under this Oak?” I ask him softly.
Keane nods, “you told me I belonged here.”
I let my eyes hold his. “Yes, before I even knew you. Before you and I had even begun to truly engage with each other. There was a pull within me, a deep appreciation for someone that I didn’t know would end up meaning so much.
I saw you then for the first time. You were so beautiful and foreboding, so sure and confident of your presence here. It was truly a sight to see…”
“But I could tell that you were unsure of my own presence under the oak. You were questioning my motives, curious yourself. The desire hit me then to prove myself, to prove that I was worthy to sit under the Shadow Oak and its massive beauty, not knowing that I was actually proving myself to you… I will always prove my worth to you, Keane. You are deserving of it. The way you talked of humans under this oak the next night when we met in the darkness…”
I shake my head at him, reveling in the memory, “I have never heard someone speak so closely to my own thoughts, to my own unspoken desires. Your words tugged and pulled at every corner of my heart, at every corner of my being. I felt those words that night, embraced those words for the first time, never once hearing them spoken or considered in Knowledge in the tone that you used. It was as if the words brought forth a bright light that shone behind a closed door, and I found myself wanting to walk towards it, wanting to open that door, wanting to walk towards you.”
“You saw the true battle within me that night,” I laugh softly, shaking my head in small disbelief, “I don’t know how or why, but you saw it.
There’s been so many moments when I ask myself how you can see the fire within me before I can even see it myself.
Because you’ve always been there to stoke those flames, here under the Shadow Oak, in your court, on the road and in Fumagalli…
you’re always there to not only see my fire but add more embers to it. You helped it grow.”
Keane moves to take another step but I shake my head sharply, willing him to keep his distance as I continue.
“The first time I felt your summoning within me it nearly stopped my full being. I felt your amused laugh under my skin, the same sound that always followed my curiosity to want to know more, needing to know more. The presence of you in my bones was unlike anything I had ever encountered, but it felt so right. I wanted more, wanted to feel your amusement because it only tugged my curiosity farther. So when that curiosity drew me on my adventures and you allowed me to see your mills, to see your Hidden City, when you trusted me with that knowledge and I saw you, standing proud and looking out to your creation in the woods and amongst the sky…”
“Keane,” I look back at him in desperation, holding his intense brown eyes to mine, “when you tell me that you wanted me then, standing under the lights, I wanted you tenfold.”
Keane groans as his eyes blaze into mine.
“I remember letting my thoughts under the Hidden City speak aloud then, wondering why it was that every time I found myself standing under something so exhilarating, something so damn breathtaking, you were always there, claiming that exhilaration, relishing in it, owning it. I saw you again that night, saw the man that you were standing under another awe-inspiring masterpiece, and knew that your body and your mind, the full damn being of you, built that city. I wanted every part of you in that moment. I wanted you to consume me, to let your fire burn into mine. I wanted to give you proper appreciation where appreciation was due, because you and your City were truly an accomplishment.”
“Alexis,” Keane’s voice is low and fierce, eyes still holding mine with intensity. I feel my name on his lips pull me towards him, watching as he takes a strong step forward and doesn’t stop the next.
“I remember wondering again in that moment why life couldn’t always be like that.
I kept wondering why I was so content in my past, content in my reading and dreaming of things though never having the courage to experience them, to own them.
It amazed me that the whole time you yourself were actually living up to that life, embracing the grand and beautiful with every part of your being.
I knew then that my words and proclamation of how I wanted to live were mere flickers to the burning flames that you held in comparison-”
“-No,” Keane cuts me off sharply, shaking his head.
“Yes, Keane,” I nod to him in steady resolve, coming to terms with my own realization, “but it’s okay, it was always okay.
You lit the flames within me. Your actions and the way you lived your life called me to embrace mine more fully, to continue to move forward and forget all of my old conclusions about how I believed a life should be lived.
Everything about you called to me, replacing my easy relaxation with a fire that burned heavy in my heart… ”