Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Night was swiftly approaching, and Riya had spent the day busying herself with tasks around her home and preparing what she needed to make her festival wares, all the while keeping a watchful eye on Vax.
He looked so peaceful, sleeping soundly half-naked on her bed.
She bit her bottom lip as she watched his bare chest flexing and moving while he slept.
Every so often, he made a rumbling sound that strangely comforted her, making her cottage feel cozier, warmer, shared.
Yet, something still felt off, and her mind wandered once again to the tea leaves from her morning mug. She couldn’t shake the feeling that the fate of that broken ring had yet to come, that finding Vax on the beach was just the start of something bigger.
The delicious aroma of baking bread wafted through the small space, bringing her back to the dinner she had cooking over the fire.
A hearty, warming stew of root vegetables and beef, along with a freshly baked loaf of bread.
As if the scent of the meal had called out to him, Vax’s stomach rumbled and he opened his eyes, pushing up to his elbows.
“What is that absolutely mouthwatering smell?”
Riya huffed a laugh, inwardly cursing herself for the blush painting her cheeks. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t been around a man before. Why was she so awkwardly shy around this one?
“Dinner,” she finally offered. “Are you hungry?”
“Famished.” He eagerly sat up, swinging his legs over the bed and planting his feet on the ground. “I’m not sure what you gave me in that tea, but I am feeling loads better.”
Riya furrowed her brow and walked over to him, examining his back and side. “I—I only gave you something for the pain, but this bruise is already starting to change color. It was so dark this morning, and now it’s tinged with greens and yellows. It’s…healing.”
“We Salamanders are quick healers. I told you I’d be alright, but I do think you helped quite a deal earlier, so again, thank you.”
“What did you just call yourself?” Riya couldn’t imagine what her face currently looked like, but from the way Vax laughed, a deep, full-bellied sound, she could only imagine it was very unpleasant indeed.
“Salamander. It’s what my people are called back home.
It means being of fire, some actually believe we were born from the sun, or from fire itself.
I suppose my hair is just as blaring as the fire in that hearth.
” He smiled, running a hand through the bright locks.
“But I am mortal just like you, not some almighty sun god, or anything, unfortunately—even if I do look like one.” He winked, and Riya choked on her own spit.
Coughing, she attempted to turn her embarrassment into a laugh, “How…fascinating. Are all the people from where you come from so…” she paused searching for the right word before landing on, “colorful?”
“Yes, I suppose they all are. There are the Undinas, whose skin is as blue as the sea, and their hair generally varies in shades of green and brown. Then there are the Gnomes. Their skin is brown and their hair is a beautiful purple. They are stunning, but they are us Salamanders biggest enemy. Then there are the Sylphs, both their hair and skin is so pale they would quite literally blend into the snowy winterland outside your cabin.”
Riya blinked, momentarily at a loss as she tried to take in all that he was saying.
His homeland might as well have been another realm entirely, separated from Svakland by more than just the impassable sea.
He looked at her as if expecting more questions, but she could think of nothing besides how warm he’d been under her palm. Maybe he was born of fire, after all.
She moved to the hearth, spooning stew into two bowls and slicing a thick, steaming piece of bread. She could feel Vax’s gaze on her back, watching her every move as she prepared their meal. It sent a pleasant sensation down her back, and she bit her lip, trying to shake it off.
“Do you think you might be able to sit at the table?”
“As you wish,” he smiled and rose, walking with a bit of a limp, which was a far cry from what he’d been like only a few hours ago.
She set the food on the table, and they both took a seat.
Her fingers traced the worn edge of the table, lingering over notches and scratches that had been there since she was a child.
Across from her sat Vax, his presence filling the empty chair that had gathered dust for the past three years.
Something in her chest loosened—a knot she hadn’t known was there until it began to unravel.
This was…nice. The cottage suddenly felt far cozier, a little less silent, the shadows in the corners not quite so imposing.
Vax dug into the meal, dipping the warm bread in the stew and spooning heaping mouthfuls from the bowl as if he hadn’t eaten in days. “This is incredible. Is there some kind of sweetness in the bread? It’s not like anything I’ve tried before.”
“Honey,” she replied, smiling despite herself. “And some candied orange peels I saved for the winter. It’s an old family recipe.”
“Have you always lived alone?”
Riya hesitated, looking down at her own bowl and stirring her spoon around in the stew. “Only since my mother passed away a little over three years ago.”
“I’m so sorry, Riya.” He reached across the table and placed a hand atop hers, and fire erupted.
She fought the urge to pull away. This was far too intimate, but genuine sorrow pulled at his features, and she couldn’t look away from his eyes, let alone avoid his comforting touch.
He cared. This stranger, this foreigner, was showing her kindness.
Her heart just about melted on the spot, and not from the burning heat blazing through his skin into hers.
“She taught me everything I know.” She suddenly blurted. “All about baking, creating the perfect confections, what herbs to use for what, and how to survive out here.”
“She sounds like a very special woman.”
Riya swallowed against the emotion building behind her eyes and climbing up her throat.
“Why are you so kind? You don’t know me.”
Vax set down his spoon and leaned back in his chair with a huff.
“Where I come from, there is nothing but war. I’ve been fighting since I was able to walk.
When you found me on the beach, I knew that I was far from home.
For one, no one looks like you back home, and if I was found by someone there, they would have killed me instantly, not even blinking an eye. ”
Riya swallowed the lump that had formed at the top of her throat. “That sounds awful.”
“I could tell you were scared and didn’t actually want to hurt me. That was…new, for me.” He took a death breath and leaned forward, his red eyes burning into hers, as if he could see through her completely. “No one has ever shown me the kindness you did today, not even my own people.”
Riya’s heart twisted in her chest. What kind of life was that? It sounded horrific, as if he never had a moment of peace.
Boom!
Riya startled, severing their intense gaze as a loud clap of thunder rattled the walls around them, and she jumped up, her chair clattering to the floor.
Vax was up just as quickly, standing beside her. “That was loud. It sounded close.”
“The storm’s gotten worse.” She agreed. “It was just thunder, but did you feel how it shook the whole house?”
Just then, a streak of lightning illuminated outside the window just before another loud boom exploded somewhere outside.
Vax was running to the door before Riya even had the chance to put her boots on. He flung the door open and sprinted barefoot into the deep snow and raging storm.
Riya followed on his heels, stopping short as she turned the corner of her house and cried out in anguish.
“No!” She wailed as her entire barn was engulfed in flames.
Her horse let out a high-pitched neigh, and she ran as fast as she could to the barn.
“Snerra, my horse! She’s inside, I have to save her! ”
But Vax grabbed her arm, hauling her back behind him and away from the flaming barn. “Stop, you will only get trapped inside with her. I will save her.”
He ran to the barn and to Riya’s horror, placed a hand on its burning surface.
“Vax, no! What are you…” Riya stopped, gasping because his flesh was unmarred even as the flames licked up his skin, casting an amber glow across his face that made his red hair gleam like molten metal. He pulled his hand away, and to her astonishment, a swirling orb of fire hovered above his palm.
She watched transfixed as he brought his hands in front of him, the burning sphere pulsing between them like a living thing.
His fingers curved gracefully, almost like a musician coaxing notes from an invisible instrument.
With each circular motion of his hands, the flames expanded, crackling and spinning faster until it looked as if he held a miniature sun before him.
Heat radiated in waves that caressed Riya’s face even from where she stood.
When the blazing sphere grew too large and wild between his palms, Vax hurled it toward the ocean.
The ball of fire arched through the evening sky, illuminating the night before plunging into the waves and evaporating in a hiss of steam.
Vax repeated the motion once more, and Riya stood frozen in disbelief as the flames consuming her barn vanished, leaving nothing but thin tendrils of smoke curling from the charred roof.
“Magic,” she whispered because that’s all it could have been. Vax was far more than what he seemed. He was something powerful, a magician.
Vax wrenched open the doors and Snerra galloped from the barn, unharmed but shaken. Riya tried to soothe her as Vax came to stand beside them.
“Were there any more animals in the barn? I checked, but I didn’t find any.”
Riya could only shake her head.
“Good.” He sighed.
“Th—thank you,” she finally stuttered. “I—I don’t know what that was that you just did, but…”
“My people are able to control and manipulate fire. I come from a world of Elementalists.”
Riya’s eyes were wide. “I’m not sure what to say, but thank you again.”
Vax nodded before saying, “The storm doesn’t seem to be letting up.
” Just then, a massive gust of wind slammed into them, and the snow began to fall harder, mingled with ash from the barn.
“Is there a place she can be safe for the night? I’m afraid the barn doesn’t have much to salvage.
I’m only glad I was able to save her from harm.
The entire structure is on the verge of collapse. I’m sorry I couldn’t do more.”
“Stop, you saved my horse. I can live without the rest,” she said. “We can take her to the shed there. She will be safe and out of the storm for the night at least.”
Riya led Snerra into the rickety shed, a structure cobbled together with years of patchwork simply to shield what little it contained from the harsh elements.
The door stuck in its warped frame, and she had to shoulder it open, boots crunching on the old straw and frozen ground.
Snerra trembled beneath Riya’s palm, and she buried her face in the mare’s neck, trying to comfort her, inhaling the familiar scent now mingled with smoke.
How fortunate that Snerra hadn’t bolted through the flames, risking a broken leg, or far worse.
But she quickly realized Snerra had panicked, she’d just had someone to save her before irreparable harm could come to her.
Vax stood a few paces outside the door, snow falling onto his bare shoulders and instantly evaporating, curling into steam as it met his fevered skin.
She quickly finished getting Snerra settled, making sure she had a fresh blanket over her and enough hay for the night before closing the door and joining Vax in the snowstorm.
“Why are you still out here?” She noticed how he was slightly hunched and gripping his side. “Are you okay?”
“I wanted to make sure you didn’t need me.” He mumbled, and she could tell it pained him to speak.
Riya’s eyes widened as she took in his bare feet sinking into the snow, “By all the Gods. You need to go inside. Now. You shouldn’t have waited. You’re half naked in freezing temperatures. Are you trying to freeze to death?”
She dragged him inside and built him a comfortable spot with all the pillows and blankets she had from her own bed by the hearth.
“I’m tougher than I look,” he ground out, which was laughable considering he looked like he was about to fall over at any moment.
“I just overdid it a bit. When I use my elemental gifts, it takes away from the rest of me. My body wasn’t able to help my injuries heal as quickly, and the pain came back tenfold. ”
“Lie here,” she pushed him onto the pillow-covered floor. “I’ll make more tea.”
Water sloshed in the kettle as she filled it, but by the time she’d hung it over the crackling fire in the hearth, Vax’s had already fallen asleep.
Riya sighed, leaving the kettle and pulling a blanket up over him. It was late, and today had been trying on both of them, full of far too much chaos. Maybe it was time she went to bed, too.
Moving silently, Riya slipped into her nightgown, adding another log to the hearth before nestling under her blankets.
From her bed, she watched the steady rhythm of Vax’s breathing as he slept on the floor beside her.
Just before drifting off, a small smile crossed her lips because for the first time in three long years, she wasn’t forced to sleep in her seaside cottage alone.