Chapter 10 #2
He grabbed her face with one hand. “Look at me! Look at me, Orelia.”
When her darting eyes found his, his grip softened. “Take a deep breath in through your nose, then exhale through your mouth. Okay?”
She nodded, holding onto him with all her strength, doing as he said.
“Good. Now do it again.”
She took two more deep breaths and focused on the eyes that hadn’t left hers.
“Do it a few more times,” he said, the words slow and reassuring.
With each breath, she homed in on his features. There were faint, rust-colored rings around his pupils. His lashes were long, and there was a small freckle on the outer corner of his left eye. The bridge of his nose had a slight indentation that told her it’d been broken and never set right.
She could feel her heart rate coming down, the muscle no longer banging against her sternum as she continued to take him in.
Dark hair framed his mouth and jaw, and he had a widow’s peak in his hairline accentuated by a few spots of blood. Wavy strands of nearly black hair framed his golden-brown face.
“Better?” he asked.
Orelia nodded, eyes going to his full lips that weren’t pressed in a hard line to tell her he was annoyed.
She realized then just how tightly she clung to him.
Her legs were wrapped around his waist, arms clamped around his neck.
He held her almost as tight as they bobbed up and down, his wings beating steadily.
“How did you do that to them?” Her voice came out scratchy.
“It was a gift from the sorcerer when I first became the executioner. I’ve never used it before, actually. Not sure I could ever again, though. Felt like my insides were on fire when I unleashed it, but now, the power feels . . .gone. Like it was a one-time use.”
She nodded slowly, taking in his words. “Why didn’t you just give them a few coins? They would have left us alone if you had. I imagine they don’t see a lot of money out here.”
He grimaced. “One of those shitheads had a knife to your throat. You’re saying that wasn’t grounds to kill him?”
“Well, I mean, you could have just killed him. You didn’t have to kill the others. They likely would have run scared if you had murdered their leader.”
Vade huffed. “You’re something else. You don’t want me to kill people who aren’t a real threat, and you don’t want me to kill creatures that are a true threat. What should I have done? Offer them a night’s stay in the shelter with us?”
Even up in the sky with all the air in the world to breathe, her chest went tight from his vexation.
Orelia opened her mouth to disagree, but she wasn’t sure what to say.
He was right. She never wanted to be a part of any bloodshed, and more had been spilled from her involvement with the fae in the past two days than in her entire thirty-three years.
Vade stared at her, their faces shockingly close to one another, waiting for an answer, but she didn’t have one. The line between his brows softened the longer the silence dragged on. When she could no longer feel the tension between them, he flicked his head. “Look over your shoulder.”
She loosened her grip slightly, feeling his tighten around her waist in response as she turned her head.
The sight took her breath away.
The storm clouds had moved on, replaced by pink and yellow ones looking like soft bundles of cotton she wanted to fall into. There was a quiet that offered comfort. No birds, no river, no Arbors or Freebeasts waiting around a tree. Just the sky and the sun beginning to set. Just peace.
“It’s beautiful up here.” Orelia smiled as the breeze picked through her hair. “Thank you for showing me. And thank you for saving me.”
He shrugged. “A benefit of wings.”
“They really are impressive. Can I touch them?”
He looked slightly taken aback but nodded.
Orelia wrapped her arm tighter around his neck and reached out with her other hand. She ran her fingers along the upper edge of his wing all the way to the small claw sticking out, grinning.
“Why are you smiling?”
“I always wondered if they were like dragon’s wings. I mean, I’ve never felt a dragon’s wings, but I read they felt the same as a fae’s.”
A faint smile curved his lips. “And what did you find out?”
Orelia flattened her palm over the smooth bumps on the interior webbing. “That they are.” She must have looked ridiculous smiling so wide because Vade chuckled.
The sound did something oddly warm to her insides.
When she pushed her hair out of her face, Vade tracked the movement, and his smile faded when his eyes landed on her neck.
On their walk today she could occasionally feel his hand like a phantom grip.
Orelia’s fingers lingered on her throat as he watched her.
“You hit a nerve the other day. In the river,” he said softly.
She leaned away slightly, but he pressed her back to him with a hand on her spine. “But I . . .uhh . . .shouldn’t have done that. It’s been a while since I’ve been around another person for a lengthy amount of time.”
Orelia didn’t know how to interpret the look in his eyes. Neither apologetic nor insincere, just a stare that seemed . . .uncertain. Uncertain of what, she didn’t know.
“It’s okay,” she said.
Vade opened his mouth like he was about to speak but decided against it. If this was him trying to apologize, she’d take what she could get. He cleared his throat. “You’re good now?”
“Yeah. I’m good.” She looked down, but the fear wasn’t there. “Just don’t drop me.”
“I doubt I even could with how tight your grip on my neck is.”
Orelia loosened her hold, revealing bright red marks on his skin. “Oh, shit! I’m sorry.”
Vade let go of her briefly and she yelped before he caught her again.
“That’s not funny!” Orelia smashed her cheek against his. “Now I’m definitely not letting go of you. I don’t want to splatter on the ground like a bug.”
His sultry laugh rumbled in her chest, making her breath hitch. Vade slid his arm further around her waist. He tangled the fingers of his other hand in her hair as he pulled her closer.
Her heart thundered as she breathed in his forest and woodsmoke scent.
Orelia was too afraid to pull back and let him see the way his laugh and touch affected her.
She blamed the sensations merely on their proximity, but a part of her didn’t want him to let go.
She tried not to dwell too long on what that might mean.
Smooth lips brushed her ear. Vade’s rough, masculine voice made her skin heat, “Time to go back.”
His wings snapped straight up and froze. They plummeted into a free fall, and Orelia screamed the whole way down.