Chapter 25
Sana couldn't remember the last time she'd felt so.
.. happy. Flying for the first time with Rhyel was magical.
He glided with ease along the winding rivers of a snow swept valley before they joined a murmuration of starlings dancing in a wave in the sky above rolling meadows nestled in the black pine forests.
They flew up above the clouds beside the glistening ice-capped mountains and watched silver three-tailed foxes wrestle along the jagged terrain before they stopped for a rest to drink tea with the people who lived in hamlets and villages nestled in the mountains.
A smile tugged at her lips as they waved goodbye to the patrons in the little tavern carved out of the stone just below the peak of the mountain pass.
They were a lovely and prideful bunch of farmers and merchants who were all too happy to welcome her and gushed with joy that their Lord was finally betrothed to someone who took an interest in knowing them.
And it warmed her heart that Rhyel introduced her with such pride gleaming in his eyes, as if he was truly happy that she was his betrothed and not because he was forced to pledge his loyalty to her.
"Are you ready to go back to the castle?" Rhyel said, tucking her hand in the crook of his arm as they walked up the snow-covered path to the rounded peak that bled into the sky as if nothing existed below the clouds blanketing the ground below.
Sana sighed. "I think so, but I hope you'll take me flying again."
"We can go flying any time you'd like."
"And you and Rhys will take me on a run again, too?"
"Of course." He nodded. "I think Rhys would be jealous if you preferred flying over running with him."
"Um..." Sana laughed as she bit her lip. "I kind of do, but I'd never want to hurt Rhys' feelings."
"It's alright. He'll get over it." Rhyel chuckled, turning to her as they reached the windy crest of the mountain. "But you should know that my wolf is quite fond of you, since you called him magnificent."
"Well, it's true, I do think he's magnificent," she said, smiling as she brushed away her wayward curls that wrestled themselves from her braided tresses.
"And that's... that's very sweet of him to think of me like that.
" A blush burned over her cheeks as a soft laugh escaped her lips. "No one's ever been fond of me."
That was something she'd only ever heard her sisters talk about from their trips to the city.
They delighted in the young merchants and soldiers who'd gifted them jewels and dresses when they confessed their fondness for them and gloated that she would never know the pleasure of anyone noticing her like them.
But Rhyel's wolf noticed her, and it felt so lovely to be seen.
"Well now, there's two." Rhyel's deep, husky voice pierced through her thoughts. Her heart thumped as he brought his hand up to her face, catching her whirling curls between his fingers. "I'm fond of you, too."
Her eyes grew wide. "You... you are?" she whispered and the tender gleam in his blue eyes sent a warm tingling caress down her spine.
"Yes." A soft smile tugged at Rhyel's lips as he loosely braided her fly away curls and tucked them behind her ear.
"You're quite captivating, my Lady," he said and the brush of his fingertips against her ear made that tingle sliding down her spine spread through her veins. "And I like spending time with you."
She leaned into his touch, sliding her fingers over his wrist as she lost herself in his warm gaze. "I... I like spending time with you, too."
"I'm glad you do," he said, caressing her cheek with his thumb as her gaze slid down to his flush lips. She'd never felt desire before, but Rhyel's endearing words and the solace she'd come to feel with him today had her wishing and yearning to drown in the taste of him.
"Sana," he murmured, trailing his thumb over her bottom lip.
"Y-yes," she breathed with her heart beating in anticipation, hoping he would grant her wish and terrified that he would.
"We should..." he said, stepping away from her as he cleared his throat and slid a hand to the back of his neck. "We should get back."
She nodded, missing the warmth of his hand on her cheek while her heart sank. "Right. Of course. It's... it's getting late."
"Yes, and I don't want to keep you out too long after dark," he said as he spread his arms wide and his black and gold tinted feathers spread across his arms and down his back. "But the lights of the city will be beautiful from a sky view."
"Th-then I can't wait to see them," she said, climbing onto his back and settling her feet into the footholds as she gripped the leather strap across his back. "Let's... let's go home."
"As you wish," he said, flapping his wings before he dove off the peak of the mountain.
Sana blinked back her tears as they soared through the red dusky sky before they dipped below the misty clouds back through the farmlands and over the rivers to the castle.
Pressing the back of her hand to her cheek, she dabbed away the tears that escaped down her face. She didn't know why she was upset. What was she truly expecting him to do?
Kiss her?
She sniffed, shaking her head. He may have said he was fond of her, but it didn't mean he desired her or wanted her in such an intimate way. She didn't even know if she wanted him in that way or if these feelings she was developing were simply because he was kind to her.
Sighing as Rhyel glided along the jagged mountainside, he'd never see her as something more than someone he was obligated to be loyal to.
Her sisters were right. She'd never know the pleasure of being seen as someone to desire.
A sad smile tugged at her lips. She didn't deserve anything more than Rhyel's kindness or the life she'd been blessed to live in Darcanos.
This was enough.
Their flight back to the castle was quiet.
Sana didn't know what to say to him after that.
.. awkward moment at the mountain pass. Everything she thought of to say to him seemed arbitrary and spurious, as if she just wanted to fill the silence.
Maybe there wasn't anything to say. And she was thinking too much about what she wanted to happen.
She trailed her fingers over the braid behind her ear and sighed. She wished her mind would stop recounting the way he tenderly brushed his thumb over her lips or the softness of his gaze. Shaking her head as she gripped the harness. It didn't mean anything, and Rhyel's kindness was enough.
"This is my favorite part of coming home this way," Rhyel said, interrupting her tumultuous thoughts as they flew over a ridge of a mountain.
She gasped at the burning lamps of the city and the castle twinkling like stars in the distance. A comforting warmth spread through her at the tiny beacons of light against the dark landscape. "It's beautiful."
"It is. I always feel like the lights are welcoming me home," he said, laughing softly. "That's silly, isn't it?"
A smile spread across her lips. "No, it's a nice thought to be welcomed home," she said as a yawn escaped her lips. "Oh, I'm... I'm sorry. I don't know where that came from."
"It's okay. It's been a long day and all that mountain air has probably made you tired," he said, turning slightly as they neared the edge of the city. "We're almost home."
Sana nodded, yawning again as her gaze drifted away from the castle to the foggy darkness beyond the wall.
A sudden wave of nausea washed over her as the chilly air grew warm and thick around her.
"Rh-Rhyel..." she murmured, clenching her fingers in his feathers as sweat beaded across her forehead. "I-I don't feel—"
A scream choked from Sana's lips as white hot pain burned in her chest, mirroring the crack of fiery red lightning illuminating the darkness in the lands of the beyond. Tears rolled down her cheeks as the pain gripped her spine, seizing her limbs and arching her back in a petrified curve.
Air choked from her lungs as streaks and flashes of fire burned across her vision. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head as her mind fell into a chasm of darkness.
Burn.
A cackling voice echoed in the abyss.
It comes for you.
The voice whispered as two glowing eyes appeared from the darkness.
To eat you.
Sana screamed as a hand slithered up from the pool of emptiness below her and curled its cold, bony fingers around ankle.
To consume you.
Shadowed hands slithered up from the darkness, latching on to her arms and legs. She struggled and cried out as the hands twisted her arms behind her back, pulling her into the depths of the abyss.
To kill you.
Fear stole her breath and an icy shiver ran down her spine as glowing eyes appeared before her in the hollowed out skull and the decrepit black robes shielding the shapeless body of a wraith.
A long slim finger reached out from its robe, pointing at her seeping into the abyss. Its mouth curled into a snarl as its eyes ignited into a furious blaze.
You must burn.
A/N: ?? Okay first of all...my heart hurts that Sana doesn't feel like she deserves to be desired, but I'm glad she's self aware that she's not sure what she wants either.
And I'm not sure what Rhyel was thinking in that moment because it was getting awfully intimate...I think? ?? His emotions could be running wild too...we don't know how that flight with her affected him.
But now what in the world just happened to Sana... how and why is a wraith in her mind? ??