Chapter Ten #2
She turned her head, looking into his eyes. They radiated sincerity. Mystery. Mischief. And she wanted to fall head-first into their golden depths. Just for one night, she could pretend she belonged at his side.
She nodded.
Weiyu reached into his vest and pulled out a long length of silky fabric, gesturing for her to turn around.
The fabric draped over her eyes, blinding her to the path in front of them.
The fabric tugged at the back of her head as Weiyu tied it.
When it remained steady without falling down, he took her hand and pulled her forward.
“Don’t let me trip,” she warned, but the smile on her lips gave away her delight.
“I would never.”
Slowly, he guided her forward by the hand until the drum beat became a faint rhythm in the distance, and the warmth of the bonfire was replaced by the chill of an approaching ocean.
The salty air entered each inhale, and the push and pull of the water’s edge filled her soul with longing.
She didn’t know how to swim, but if she did, she would have wanted to throw herself into the salty chill and bask in the reckless pull of the water.
A giggle escaped unbidden from her mouth, and she might have cringed if it wasn’t for the nice warmth of their connected hands and the hurt of her cheeks from smiling so much. “Why are you so nice to me, Weiyu?”
“Because I like you. Isn’t it obvious?”
Her cheeks flushed. At least until she quickly reminded herself that Weiyu was far out of her league, far too good for her. But for one night, she decided to humor him and believe that maybe they could be friends at the very least.
The bottoms of her feet sifted through soft sand, and then hard sand. After a quiet word of caution from Weiyu, the sand transitioned to frigid water and slippery moss between her toes.
“Where are we?” she asked.
Weiyu dropped her hand, and she felt the pressure of his nearness as he rounded her, his fingers deftly untying the blindfold.
When the swath of silk fell from her eyes, she inhaled sharply, excited to find at least a dozen small tidepools surrounding her. Some sort of green algae glowed in the darkness, lighting up the contents of each pool. Several housed coral and starfish. Others contained fish, snails, and barnacles.
She lifted her gaze to find a soft, peaceful expression on Weiyu’s face as he stared out over the water. It was clear he loved this place.
“I don’t remember my mother,” he said, now studying the tide pool he stood in next to hers.
“Ye-Ye told me she often came here to escape court pressure and my overbearing father.” He chuckled and shook his head wryly.
“Overbearing in a good way, I was told. He loved her so much that he could hardly stand to leave her side. But she enjoyed some space to herself, and she came here. It’s my favorite place to escape as well. ”
Zahra lifted her skirts higher to keep them from getting soaked before she bent over and ran a finger over one of the starfish. Surprise lit her expression at its hard, bumpy surface. She would have assumed them to be soft.
She lifted her head to find Weiyu watching her with a soft smile. The pulse fluttering at her neck quickened, and her heart beat hard to rival the drums of the equinox party.
A quivering breath escaped her as she reached into one of the pockets sewn into her skirt. “I have something I want to give you. To thank you for all you’ve done for me.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Are we truly in this ever-revolving circle of owing one another? You need not thank me, Zahra. You owe me nothing. Really.”
“Still...I wanted to give this to you.”
With one last shaky breath, she produced a dream catcher and presented it to him.
He inhaled sharply, his gaze roaming over the leather strings and blue phoenix feathers woven together.
Beads dripped off the circular weave, lightly clacking together with the movement. Long, blue feathers hung off the ends.
“These...” he rasped, blinking slowly. “These are my feathers.”
She nodded. “I mentioned before that I was a weaver. I was not sure what to do with all your feathery gifts, but then... I wanted to make this for you. When the woven seal breaks or when combined with magick, the pattern is supposed to protect you. To ward off danger.”
“Magic...” he replied with wonder in his tone. “Will my magick work?”
“It should, in theory. I hope you never find a reason to need to use it.” And then she isolated a braided strand of her hair to reveal the beads and blue feathers woven in. “Now we match.”
“Will that protect you like this will protect me?”
“I have no magick to activate it, but I can still break the seal.” She ran her fingers over the braided pattern, lingering a little longer on the soft blue feathers. “The effect should be the same. In theory,” she added again.
To hide the weary resoluteness in her expression, she smiled and diverted his attention back to his woven charm. “I hope you don’t mind me gifting back your feathers.”
“I don’t.” Their fingers brushed as he placed the charm into her hand. “Tie it on for me? I’m not sure I would do the knot justice.”
She took a step forward, hands surprisingly not shaking as she reached for him. Her chest tightened, her heart threatening to leap out as her fingers brushed against his hip.
After she tied it, she tried to retract her hand.
But then Weiyu snatched her wrist, staring intently down at her.
The intensity of his eyes ensnared her like a rabbit that wanted to get caught in a hunter’s trap.
They beckoned her closer. Playful. Teasing.
But then they took on a serious note, and her toes curled into wet sand with longing.
She wanted to be closer. To feel him beneath her fingers.
To experience his hot breath against her skin.
“Your Highness!” someone shouted.
They leapt apart. Zahra lost her balance in the tide pool, and she found herself stumbling over the lip of the pool and onto dry sand before she caught herself. Weiyu quickly grabbed her elbow to help steady her, but then he froze against her.
She glanced up to find out why.
Her eyes widened in horror to find a man covered in blood, hardly lucid and barely remaining on his feet while two others supported either side of him. Weiyu released her and rushed toward them, taking hold of the injured man and channeling his healing magick into his body.
The wounds closed just enough to keep him from bleeding out, but he remained halfway unconscious and completely unresponsive.
“What happened?” Weiyu demanded.
One of the men breathed heavily as he explained, “We were patrolling the southern border when we were attacked by red phoenixes.”
“On our border or across?”
The two men glanced at each other. The second one replied, “It’s hard to say. It was so close...”
“On or off?” Weiyu demanded again in a no-nonsense tone.
“On. It was on, Your Highness.”
Weiyu swore under his breath and straightened.
“Take him to the hospital wing. Ye-Ye will be able to treat this. When you’re done, join me within the ranks of our soldiers.
We’ll quadruple the patrol tonight to make sure no other incidents occur.
The rest of the soldiers will stay to protect civilians.
Do not alert anyone to what happened tonight. We don’t want to cause a panic.”
“Yes, Your Highness!” they said in unison before disappearing into the trees.
When he turned back to her, he offered a guilty grimace. “I’m sorry. I have to go.” And then he, too, disappeared like a shadow in the night.
“Wait! Weiyu, I...”
Her words trailed off as she watched him disappear, the horror of the situation causing her heart to beat a tragic rhythm. She needed to tell him the truth. To tell him who she really was. Because if she didn’t, others might get hurt.
No, they would get hurt.
But...
She grasped Weiyu’s necklace in a shaky hand. A selfish part of her reveled in the friendly visits, the laughter shared between them, in the gentle way he’d led her to his favorite spot on the island.
If she told him the truth, she would lose all that. How could she possibly give it up?
Taking a deep breath, she steeled her nerves as she came to a resolve. She would tell him. Not yet. But soon. If there was a way to speak the truth while keeping his friendship, she wanted to find a way to do so first.
But soon.