Chapter 23
‘We are the remnants of burning stars.’
— Excerpt from House Deyanira’s personal history book
Airess
“A twig?” Airess asked as she held the six-inch-long stick up to eye level. Taryn stood across from her, his feet planted to the ground in a position that could only be muscle memory with how easy it came to him. He held up his own stick in a defensive position and cocked his head to the side.
“Did you think we would be using real daggers?” He laughed, his head tilting back in genuine amusement. The sight of it brought a grin to her face. Airess tried her best to fight off, but failed. Taryn’s canines glinted in the night from the reflection of the fyre a few feet away from them.
“Unless you want to accidentally hurt yourself, you’ll find the twigs useful for your lessons. Now, assume a stance similar to mine.”
She mimicked his stance, planting her feet firmly to the ground.
She held the dagger up with amateur skill as she tried to figure out the best way to hold her weapon.
He dropped his stance and walked up to her, his fingers gently tilted her elbow upward.
The heat of his touch ignited a fyre within her.
Taryn’s other hand lightly guided her wrist in front of her center.
The softness of his touch surprised her.
Has she ever known a male to be so gentle, besides her own father?
Her brows creased at the intrusive thought, and she swallowed it down. No need to pay old memories any mind. Focus.
It was certainly hard to focus as they locked eyes. For the first time, she saw something deeper behind those silver eyes–an emotion richer than his usual amusement, his cloak of sarcasm and humor failing him in this moment. His pupils dilated, his eyes trailing down her face, down to her lips.
Taryn coughed and stepped away, breaking the tension. He assumed an offensive position, clearing his throat as if he didn’t just look at her like he wanted to taste her. Her entire body heated at the thought.
“I moved your arms so your weapon would guard your heart. Now, let’s see what you’ve got. Go ahead, strike me.” He tilted his head in encouragement, a subtle smirk on his pretty mouth.
Confident bastard.
She struck forward recklessly, not really knowing what her legs were doing as she jabbed her twig toward Taryn’s heart. Airess barely registered Taryn swiping her twig out of her hand, the wood now fallen onto the forest ground.
He clicked his tongue. “First lesson,” Taryn picked up the twig and handed it back to her, “It’s better to start from an angle.
You want to be able to cover as much area as you can.
You’re quick, so this move would benefit you if you ever had to engage in combat.
Like this.” He drew his twig behind his shoulder and slashed directly across in front of him.
Airess emulated his demonstration, making sure to slash her twig across from her right shoulder to left hip.
Taryn nodded in approval and sidestepped away from the tree. “Good. Now practice on this tree. Get a feel for striking something solid.”
She gave him a weary look but obliged–only getting a few slashes in before her twig broke in half. Airess thought they would move on to another move, but Taryn replaced her twig with a thicker, sturdier one each time.
“Again.” He said, his muscled forearms crossed as he watched her.
So she struck.
Again and again and again.
Hours later, the pair agreed to find an Inn to stay at for the night. They had both grown tired of camping out for over a month on end, and with them being so close to the edge of the continent, Airess thought it would be a wonderful idea to finally sleep in a real bed.
They approached the small, quaint Inn and walked through its worn-down entryway. Half-torn wall paper hung off the walls, and the Inn smelled of cigar smoke and clean linens. The floorboards creaked as they approached the desk where the Innkeeper sat, currently smoking.
“We’d like a room, please.” Airess inquired tentatively, trying her best to muster an innocent smile.
“You’re in luck! We have one room vacant upstairs, fourth door to the left. Bathing chambers on the first floor.” The innkeeper’s wrinkled hands handed the key over to Airess with a sweet smile, “A lovely room for a lovely couple. Oh, won’t you two make beautiful babies!”
Airess’ cheeks immediately heated at the assumption, “Actually, we –”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Taryn said stiffly, giving the innkeeper a brisk nod. As they ascended up the wooden stairs in silence, Airess heard the old woman snickering.
That old bat knew what she was doing.
Taryn unlocked the door and abruptly came to a halt midway in the door frame.
“What is it?” Airess asked as he sidestepped for her to come in and closed the door behind them.
Oh.
The room was simple and small. The walls and floor were all made from wooden planks.
An undersized rug lay in the middle of the floor.
A medium sized bed, just big enough to squeeze in two people, sat flushed against the corner.
A painting of an owl hung crooked on the wall and an oil lamp on the bedside table.
How odd. The animal always made appearances in her life, but those thoughts were stuffed down as Airess was still reeling from the innkeeper's comment.
Taryn scratched the back of his neck as he said, “I’ll sleep on the floor.”
“No, it’s okay. I can–”
Taryn laughed, his vibrato deep and rich, “Please, Airess, I insist. If my grandmother were still alive she would have my head if I let you sleep on the floor.” He set his satchel down and lit the wick in the oil lamp.
Airess shuffled on her feet. “I’m going to the bathing chambers.” She spun on her heel, the door slamming shut behind her as she made her way to bathe.
Airess didn’t know why her heart was pounding so much, why the innkeepers comments about them making beautiful babies drew forward thoughts about him–absolutely wrong thoughts she was trying her best to rebuke.
She didn’t need to think about his muscled chest, the way sweat rolled down the sides of his face, slicking past his scar that she couldn’t help find attractive.
She didn’t need to think about running her fingers through his loose curls, the dangle of his earring when he laughed, or his piercing silver eyes that seemed to see right through her, or the fact that she had to arch her head all the way up to look at him.
His gentle fingers–
Oh, Air, get a hold of yourself!
Airess walked into the bathing chamber to find a bath already drawn and warmed. She thanked the gods for at least making this part of her journey easy. She glanced around the room as she pulled her cloak off and began to undress.
She stepped in the tub and quite literally sank into the water, the heat bringing a comfort she had often at the castle. Never again would she take any luxuries for granted. At last, Airess exhaled an audible sigh, releasing a tension that had been building up the entire journey.
One more week. They would make it to her hometown, Judla, and finally cross Finlan’s Passage.
Excitement and dread brewed in her chest. She was ready to meet the priestesses in Rune and learn about her power, ready to make a life worth living for herself.
She was more than ready to escape Luciena for good and leave this nightmare behind her.
But along with all of the excitement, came dread.
Airess never expected to feel dread at the end of her travels… but she did. She could no longer deny she had grown fond of Taryn, more than fond, that is. Would they go their separate ways for good, or would he leave her behind?
After her much needed bath, Airess finally dried off and reclothed. When she went to grab the heart locket Esper had given her, the locket slipped and fell to the ground.
Click!
Metal clicked against metal. Airess bent down to inspect and realized the necklace had split open. Her heart dropped, thinking the necklace had broken until she brought it closer to her eyes
No, not broken. The locket had opened!
Airess’ brows creased as she brought the necklace closer to the oil lamp. Inside the locket was an engraving of text:
Deyanira
It looked like a name, and one that struck her to her very core. Deyanira. Why did it sound so familiar?
After a few seconds, Airess closed it, clutching the jewelry in her fist and headed back to the room. Call her superstitious, but she couldn’t help but feel like she was on the brink of discovering something life-altering.
Airess finally settled into bed and stared at the ceiling as Taryn rustled to get comfortable on the floor.
“Well, this is certainly better than camping out on the forest floor.” Airess said, breaking the silence. “Only one more week.”
“One more week.” Taryn replied weakly. Airess noted the doubt lacing in his voice and frowned.
“Aren’t you excited to finally go home?”
“I am. It’s just been so long.”
Airess sat up and looked at him. Taryn was lying on his back, shirtless, with his arms folded behind his head. She studied the sleeve of tattoos inked in red on one arm, particularly the dragon depicted on his bicep. She wondered what made him choose the extinct animal.
His gaze snapped to hers, and the thin nightdress she wore. He ripped his eyes back to her face as quickly as he could and swallowed.
“Taryn, what happened all those years ago? How did you end up in Luciena?” Airess whispered, softly asking for an opening into Taryn’s mind.
For a moment, she thought that he wasn’t going to answer.
He swallowed and closed his eyes. “I was fourteen years old when Rune drafted all the young males into the war on Luciena.
The war had taken a toll on our population, so we were all that they had left.
I was young and eager, and gladly welcomed being shipped off to war after the loss of my grandmother and… becoming homeless.