92. Chapter 92
CHAPTER 92
Dynalya
D yna listened to Cassiel’s steady breathes as she watched him sleep. Her mind felt heavy and her body tired. She needed food and rest but was afraid if she looked away he would disappear.
A soft knock came at the door and Zev poked his head in. “Dyna,” he called softly. Concerned lined his eyes at the sight of her. “You haven’t slept yet, have you? It’s nearly dawn.”
She glanced blearily at the windows. The darkness had shifted to a dull gray with the imminent arrival of morning. She had lost count of how many mornings it had been.
Dyna’s throat tightened with emotion. “Why won’t he wake?”
Zev came to stand by her. “He will.”
“How do you know?”
“Because for all of his efforts, Cassiel could never stay away from you.” Zev patted her shoulder. “I can sit with him. You haven’t eaten since the morning. Go have a cup of tea at least. I will let you know if anything changes.”
Dyna sighed and pressed on her aching eyes. Tea might help her nervs.
“I’ll be back soon,” she whispered to Cassiel, brushing her lips on his forehead.
Stepping out into the hall, Yelrakel silently bowed her head. She loyally kept her watch by their door. Dyna wandered through the quiet estate until she reached the kitchens.
Raiden looked up from his seat at the cook’s table. “My lady, trouble sleeping?”
She nodded. “You as well.”
He offered her slight shrug. “Many thoughts occupy my mind as of late.”
Dyna took the chair beside him, and he poured her a cup of tea. She took a sip, letting the warm hints of honey, mint, and lavender soothe her stomach. “What thoughts?”
Raiden looked down at the loose leaves in his cup. “I suppose I question what is to come next, now that my father has returned … and what is to come for you and I.”
Dyna met his eyes and whatever he found in hers seemed to give him an answer.
He nodded. “I understand.”
Swallowing, she reached into her pocket and gently laid his mother’s ring on the table. “I’m sorry.”
Raiden sighed and shook his head. “Please don’t apologize, my lady. I should never have dared to reach for the impossible.” He laughed a little and looked out at the kitchen windows to the shadowed silhouette of the Anduir Mountains. “When you came here, I was taken with your kindness. Your resilience. You came from another land past the mountains, untainted by my memories of this place. When you cried in my stead by the fountain, you looked so lovely to me. Like the crimson fields in the spring beneath the sunset’s gleam.” His eyes grew wet and so did hers as he met her gaze again. “I thought if I could somehow win your heart I would know what love meant, but a part of me always knew yours was never meant for me. From the moment you first spoke of him, despite of the pain he caused, and the anger he left you with, your light and your heart had only ever belonged to him.”
Dyna lowered her head, not wishing to burden him with the sight of her tears. Raiden cupped her cheek and caught one in his fingers.
“I will keep this though,” he murmured. “To remember you by.”
She smiled at him. “You will find your light one day, Raiden. When you least expect it.”
He nodded, though it was more out of politeness than in agreement.
“Who knows. Perhaps she is not a crimson bloom, but a desert flower from other distant fields.”
Raiden blinked at her, bewildered. “My lady, surely you jest.”
Dyna smiled a little, but it wavered. “Raiden, speak to your father. Rawn is not the type to impose, so he will give you the time you need, but don’t let too much time pass. Go on and air your grievances if you must. The only reason you can is because he is still alive to hear them. We don’t know what tomorrow will bring, but you will regret it if you lose this chance.”
Raiden lowered his gaze to the table.
Dyna meant to say more but she cut off with a gasp. She whipped around to the door, pressing a hand to her heart. The threadbare bond, it stirred.
“What is it?”
“He’s awake,” she said shakily. “He’s awake!”
Dyna bolted through the kitchen. She flew through the halls, nearly tripping over the carpet runner.
The bond hummed through her chest and oh, it was so beautiful. Like the twinkle of stars at twilight. She sprinted up the stairs with her heart in her throat, but she found Zev in the hall, chatting with Yelrakel.
“Zev?” Dyna rushed to him. “Where is he?”
“Who? Cassiel? He’s still?—”
She ran past him and burst into their room.
The bed was empty.
“No, where did he go?” she cried, searching the room. “You were supposed to watch him!”
“I’m sorry,” Zev said anxiously. “I only stepped out for a moment.”
“Your Highness,” Yelrakel exclaimed, looking out of the windows. They were open. “He’s outside.”
Dyna rushed over. In the grayness of early morning, she spotted him walking away from the estate toward the dynalya fields. Barefoot, his single, limp wing hanging down his back.
“Cassiel!” Dyna cried, but he didn’t stop.
He was leaving.
The last time they spoke she had told him they were finished, and he was honoring her wishes.
So he left again, without saying goodbye.
“Dyna, we are each born with our own fate, and he’s yours,” Zev murmured behind her. “Go get him.”
That was all she needed to climb out of the window and jumped. Her Essence flared around her before he hit the ground and softened her fall. Stumbling to her feet, she sprinted across the courtyard to for flowering fields, but he had already disappeared on the side of the hill.
No.
She had to reach him.
She had to stop him.
Because after months of telling him to leave, she didn’t want that anymore.
“Cassiel!” Dyna gasped, her throat dry and her voice too weak to shout. She slipped on the wet grass as she ran up the hill. She kept running, keeping her eyes on the sky turning pink and orange at the top, praying, hoping, he had not left yet. Cassiel!” Her cry echoed over the red fields. “Cassiel, wait!”
A form appeared at the top of the hill and her heart swelled at the sight of him. The wind tugged at his long dark hair, rippling across his white tunic. He blinked at her sudden appearance, staring at her in surprise. He was still here. He hadn’t left yet. She choked on a sob, slipping and sliding on the wet grass as she ran for him, reaching out with splayed fingers.
His silver eyes widened. “Dyna?—?”
She tackled him and he caught her with an oomph . They fell backwards on the knoll together. His hands were warm on her waist and the back of her head.
Cassiels chest rose and fell against her ear. His heart, how perfect each solid beat sounded. “What?—”
“I don’t want you to go,” Dyna blurted breathlessly. She sat back on her heels and clutched his arms. “Please don’t go.”
Cassiel blinked at her a moment then his brows curled, and his mouth parted with a soft breath. He searched her face with soft eyes, confusion and exhaustion embedded on his pallid features. The wind brushed against his single wing and her face crumbled.
“I hated what you did to us,” she wept. “But in truth, you were hurting too, weren’t you? From the beginning, you were hurting so much. Yet I didn’t even try to see things from your perspective at all. I know you’re afraid of me dying again but that was not because of you. Leaving doesn’t protect me, and staying won’t kill me. But you leaving…” she nodded through her tears. “That would kill me, Cassiel. When you were gone, I couldn’t breathe. Then when you were dying, I was ready to die with you because I can’t go on if you’re gone. I want to face this life with you because I love you. So don’t run away. You’re not alone. Not anymore. Stay . With me.”
Cassiel’s silver eyes welled, and his warm hand cupped her cold cheek as he caught the tears rolling down her face.
“Dynalya,” his voice broke. “I am not going anywhere. It took everything I had to walk away from you the first time. I don’t have the strength to do ever do that again. Each dawn was a reminder of a life without you. Every sunset held a silent wish for your voice. Whatever darkness may come our way, I will be with you. Always.”
His promise fell over the withered threads of their bond, and it pulsed between them, trembling with faint light. She embraced it and the threads brightly glowed.
“I was wondering…” Dyna reached into her pocked and held out her open palm to him. The silver Hyalus ring glinted in the morning light. “If you would like to wear this again?”
Cassiel blinked at it, baffled. “When did you?—?”
Through her blurred vision, she saw the realization cross his face. She had found his ring in her enchanted satchel months ago where he had hidden it. At the time, she thought it was simply another thing he had abandoned until she finally understood. He couldn’t help but leave a piece of himself behind with her.
“Will you be mine again, Cassiel?” Dyna asked, her voice quivering.
Maybe because a part of her was still afraid to trust him again, but she had no reason to be. There was nothing but pure, devastating, world-shattering joy in his wet eyes.
Cassiel reached in his pocket and took out her small ring, the pair to his. She let out a wet, bubbly, laugh. He had carried a piece of her with him, too.
His trembling reply came out hoarse. Breathless. “I never stopped being yours, lev sheli .”
He slipped on his ring. Then his palm gently cradled her hand as slipped her ring back on her finger where it belonged. And the bond, the brittle thing that had been dying, blazed with new life as it reformed itself.
Instantly.
Flawlessly.
So strong and bright as if all it took was this.
The spring breeze drifted over the hill of flowers, filling the air with their sweet scent and red petals. And as he sat there, looking as ethereal as the first day she saw him, Dyna knew the only thing the bond needed was her forgiveness.
Because love, that had never left. Even in her anger, and resentment that felt like hate, she had never—not once—stopped loving Cassiel.
She didn’t know who reached for who first. In the next breath, she was in his arms. Crying with him. Embracing him. Touching him. Exchanging wet kisses that tasted like tears and faith.
Home , her soul sang. She had come home.
His arms shook around her as he cradled her in his arms. His single wing wrapped around her in a way that vowed there would be no more letting go.
“If you weren’t leaving me again, why did you come here?” she asked.
Pulling back, Cassiel smiled at the vast field of red blooms as the first gold rays of daylight peeked over the horizon. Bright and gentle and warm.
Then those starry eyes welled as they met hers once more. “I was waiting for the sun.”
Then she was crying all over again, as he had the power to make her do. Her chaotic emotions free and wild, and she didn’t care.
“ Ahuvati .” Cassiel took her face in his gentle hands, and rested his forehead against hers, breathing her in. “How I have missed you.”
Then his warm lips kissed away the tears from her lashes and cheeks, leaving little impressions of heat behind like the caress of feathers against her skin.
“My heart. My queen. My dawn.”
In the privacy of their bedroom, Dyna bore witness to Cassiel cutting out another piece of his rib bone. She watched him burn it until it was black. Then he meticulously ground it with a special oil Yelrakel had provided, until it became sacred paint. She sat by the hearth as he knelt before her again and wrote new vows on her skin.
One on the inside of her right arm: My mind’s might and fire, I lay at your feet to never rise against you.
Over her heart, he painted: Wherever you go, in life and in death, I will follow.
Dyna was blinded by tears by the time he finished the last letter. Cassiel slowly kissed away each one that fell. His lips brushed over her lips, then traced the collum of her throat. Her head lolled back to give him better access and his teeth grazed across the spot where her neck and shoulder joined.
Languid heat uncoiled inside of her, anticipation tingling across her skin. He kissed his way back up her neck to the shell of her ear as his hand slid up her side, teasing her sensitive flesh over her nightgown. Her breath quickened as her pulse climbed. Then Cassiel swept her into his arms, carrying her to their bed. Their clothes slipped away and none of her was hidden from him anymore.
He explored every inch of her as though for the first time, his hands and mouth insatiable. He held her in his arms as they joined together. His every shaking touch, every soft kiss, was sweet and slow. Worshipping.
Dyna merged into him. Her body fitting every inch of his like two pieces cut from the same cloth. The new vows lit up on her skin, alongside the first ones. They vibrated in the bond between them, glowing like a dance of stars.
With every roll of his hips, her heart called to him and his replied as it always did.
I love you, it said. I love you. I love you. I love you.