Chapter 11
Nate
Tristan’s hand is big, and warm, and when he pulls on mine, my feet move without any prompting.
The elves shout and call for their friends, some even break into song just as he leads the way onto the open porch in front of the tavern.
The vivacious melody soon has several people rocking their bodies to its tune, but as I step out of the dusky interior bathed in the glow of the green fire, the brightness of the moon has me shielding my eyes.
I look to a point Tristan indicates, but with so many people crowding around me and pointing at the sky, I only see flashes of a silver sparkler progressing through the dark blue canopy above.
I get to my toes with a frown. “I can’t see. Is it there?”
“I’ve got an idea,” Tristan says, and turns me to face him. His arms slide around my waist, and the massive wings appear out of nowhere, already unfolded halfway.
One of the patrons hisses, rubbing his cheekbone where Tristan accidentally flicked him, but then my feet lift off the ground, and we’re casting a shadow on the excited congregation of elves.
With the void under me, I wrap my arms around his neck.
His grip tightens, so steady and secure, and I’m instantly taken back to the moment of sheer relief and terror when he plucked me from the cold waves.
I was dying, and he caught me.
Saved me.
And now, he won’t let me fall.
He’s already fought for me twice, and maybe it’s crazy, but I trust him.
We might have left the tavern to see a falling star, but it can’t possibly rival the beauty of Tristan’s golden eyes, so why would I look away?
Lightning bugs dance in my stomach as he carries me ever higher, arms locked around me so firmly there’s no room for fear. I’ve never been held this way. We’re now high in the air, and I could let go with full certainty that he’d sooner die than drop me.
Could this night get more magical? I’ve stepped into a fantastical world inhabited by unicorns, elves, and a giant moon that bathes us in warm light. And now I’m flying on the wings of the elven prince of my dreams.
I can only hope this isn’t an illusion.
“How are you doing this?” I rasp, resting my chin on the crab print in the middle of his new hoodie. The modern clothing is spoiling my fantasy a little, but its presence makes this moment more real. I am living out my own story, and it will be perfect, whatever happens.
“Shadowcraft,” he says simply, but his eyes aren’t on me anymore. Which I appreciate, since he is the one keeping me from dropping to my death from—
I squeeze his shoulders when my gaze settles on the ever-shrinking people below. When did we even get so high?
The tavern’s built at the foot of a massive cliff, and as Tristan turns us so I face the jagged rock, my eyes find an irregularity close to the top.
A large cave opens its jaws, stalactites hanging at the entry like fangs.
With the moon casting deep shadows onto the formations, it looks just like the skull of a long dead dragon, and we land right inside its mouth, on a tongue of soft moss.
There’s so much to take in my head whips around as my body gets used to being back on steady ground. The walls are covered in mushrooms, and colorful minerals glow with soft, fluorescent light. The soothing warmth of this place hits me as soon as Tristan takes a step back.
“How about this for a view?” he asks with a grin. At first I think he means the cave, but he spreads out his arm, and breath catches in my throat as I turn.
The night landscape opens in front of me like a storybook brought to life by forces beyond my comprehension.
We are so high up the tavern is reminiscent of a small animal tucked into the cliff at our feet, its golden lights nothing in comparison to the moon and stars above. The voices and song that so recently welcomed me with their warmth are now barely a whisper.
From up here, all the buildings we’ve passed since arriving in the Nightmare Realm look like wooden toys, dwarfed by the sheer magnificence of the forest stretching toward the horizon like an emerald ocean.
And above it, the sky shimmers like an ever-turning kaleidoscope, full of stars gathered around the enormous moon like royal attendants.
Silvery light spills over the ancient landscape below in luminous streams, and just as I’m about to forget why Tristan brought me here in the first place, my gaze spots a falling star on the edge of the heavens.
I always thought I wasn’t fit to be a poet, yet look at me now. Maybe I really do have a book in me?
“Is that it?” I rasp, glancing over my shoulder as I point out the meteorite. It burns its way to the ground with sparkling ferocity. I’ve never seen anything like it. Any falling star I’ve ever spotted has been a blip barely long enough to— “Make a wish,” I whisper and squeeze Tristan’s hand.
“Hm?”
“In the human world, you make a wish when you see a falling star. Just don’t say it out loud, or it won’t come true!”
Tristan chuckles, but remains silent as I consider my wish, secretly hoping he made the same one. If we both wish for it, the power of it must double, right?
Not that I believe in the power of wishes.
Not really.
But if we both want to get to know each other better, and make the conscious choice to make it happen, then no magic will be necessary.
“It’s being very slow. In my world, you blink and they’re gone,” I say, breathing in the herby aroma permeating the warm cave. It’s almost like standing at the threshold of an open sauna.
“You try making a trek across the sky. Takes a while.” Tristan gently pulls me down to the moss, and this reckless, beautiful man sits with his legs dangling over the edge. I guess you don’t have to be afraid of heights when you have wings.
I take my place next to him with my heart pounding.
Only when I’m safely tucked under his arm can I think about what he just said.
“What do you mean when you say trek?”
Tristan kisses the top of my head. “It is said that’s a unicorn galloping down from the moon. Some elves think there’s only ever one.”
I swallow, sinking into him as I too hang my legs over the edge of the open cave mouth. There’s a thrill in doing this, but if the worst happened, I trust Tristan to save me before I hit the ground. “So… this means another one just died?”
“That would be the only explanation.” He points to the distance. “Somewhere far far away.”
I follow the trail drawn by his finger all the way to the shadowy mountains on the horizon and let his hoodie cushion my cheek. “That’s sad. It must be so lonely on its own.”
“I never thought about that. Only one of its kind. Like a human among elves, maybe it makes friends with the deer and wild horses and doesn’t feel alone at all?” Tristan whispers and kisses the side of my head.
My toes curl as a wave of heat spreads over my scalp, and I seek Tristan’s hand, squeezing it as we admire the stars. “Yes, but wouldn’t you sometimes miss a person who would really understand you?”
Tristan’s thumb plays with mine. “And who says that can’t be a human?”
Oh, God. He’s melting my heart as if it’s a popsicle.
“I understand what you’re getting at. I always got on with animals so much more easily than with people.
Back when I was still in school, the other boys would target me, because I was different, softer than them,” I admit, trying to shake off the uneasy feeling brought on by the memories flooding back.
“When it comes to friendship, I always got on better with girls. They understood my obsession with unicorns.” I chuckle, even though it’s a bit sad.
I was lucky my grandparents were so understanding.
“Nothing wrong with gentleness.” Tristan underlines that with another kiss. “In fact, that’s what I prefer in a man. I’ve got enough muscle and temper for two. I’m sorry you were surrounded by such fiends.”
I swallow, because his words pass through me like wind blowing mist away from tall grass. Suddenly, I can breathe freely again, because he doesn’t sound dismissive, like some of my exes have been. He doesn’t expect me to shoulder my baggage forever and act as if it doesn’t continue hurting me.
Unaware of my thoughts, Tristan goes on, “before I even met my first human, my late father brought me a device from your world. No bigger than my hand, it had what he called headphones, and cassettes, and played music when you pressed buttons on it. I didn’t understand all the human lyrics, but it was like being transported to a whole new world.
Like many things that come from your world, it deteriorated within a full moon.
I’m now aware that it must have been the ‘batteries’ that actually—never mind, I talked about it a lot to some of the humans at court.
What matters is that what I want to say is, yes, you will be different here, but some will love exactly that about you. ”
Is he trying to charm me, or is he being sincere? Because just imagining a teenage Tristan roaming through an elven castle with a Walkman is so endearing I can barely contain a smile.
My chest heats up, and I bury my nose in the folds of his top. “Will it be safe? Amrath mentioned that the prince you were guarding was… killed?”
Tristan stays silent for long enough to start making me nervous.
I’m about to take back my question when he speaks.
“Our world is not without dangers, but you will be protected, and you will have a lot of time to adjust to this new world and its challenges. The prince, Kyranis, he… sent me away that day. He decided to go hunting on his own, and there was nothing I could do. We had a fight. I told him it was a bad idea at that time of the year, and maybe I should have followed anyway? I’ll never know, but his death will always be a stain on my conscience, even though Kyranis wasn’t a man of virtue.