Chapter 12
A Moth to a Flame
Rionan stared at his hotel room ceiling as he lay on his bed, the same words he had said echoing in his mind, over and over.
Where I am from – where I, work…things have been difficult. I’m here to look for a way to resolve things. Make them better. Return things to the way they were.
I think you might already be helping me, even if you don’t know it.
She hadn’t pried. She just let him speak.
Rionan thought of the way she looked at him under that archway. He remembered what he scented on her, what he knew she wanted him to do.
He thought of the shudder that went through her when he touched her.
He thought of the way his power alighted around him when he took her in.
He thought of the way he couldn’t be honest with her about who he was, or why he was here.
He thought of his pseudonym on her lips. Max.
Rionan rolled over, his brow furrowed.
They’d left the gardens after that. If they had stayed…he would have taken things further, if she wanted him to. It wasn’t fair to her. She didn’t know who he was. Why he was there. She didn’t know that he would leave one day soon, and that he would not return to this realm in her lifetime.
Hell, the reason he had set out to get to know her was purely for the purpose of getting what he needed and getting home. The strange attraction he felt to the girl was not part of this plan.
Rionan knew that there was something about Alianna that he hadn’t yet figured out. A reason for their continued chance meetings. A reason that he was being drawn to her, like a moth to a flame.
He also knew that in doing whatever he was supposed to do in this realm, he didn’t need to begin feeling this way about this girl.
Her scent needn’t linger in the air around him like it currently did.
He needn’t think of how she smiled.
How her hair caught the light.
How she laughed.
How she looked up at him through those heavy-lidded eyes.
How he wanted to kiss her this evening. How he might have done more than kiss her, if she willed it.
The familiar, urging voice of his power that he had been hearing since he had pulled it from the West Well and brought himself to the human realm had been quiet tonight. A reprieve that he did not think would last.
As he continued to muse about the evening he had, he felt a vibration coming from his pocket. He reached down, confused, only to pull out the mobile phone that he had procured purely to contact Alianna.
Alianna
22:32: I had a nice time tonight. I hope you did too.
Rionan
22:32: I did. It was one of the nicest evenings I have had in a long time. I was just thinking about you, actually.
Rionan watched as an ‘…’ icon appeared and disappeared on the screen, multiple times.
Alianna
22:34: you were? What exactly are you thinking, Max?
There was that name again. Max. He also saw the message for what it was – an invitation.
Rionan
22:36: I am thinking how exquisite you looked in that dress.
Alianna
22:37: im glad you liked it. Anything else?
Rionan
22:38: I am thinking how much I enjoyed your company. How wonderful your smile is. Your laugh.
Alianna
22:38: thank you. youre quite nice to be around yourself, mr west.
Rionan
22:40: And, I am thinking about how much I enjoyed standing under the archway with you.
Again, that ‘…’ icon appeared and disappeared. Several minutes ticked by, and he assumed he would not get a response, until his screen lit up and the phone vibrated again.
Alianna
22:44: maybe we could go there again sometime.
He pondered what she meant by ‘there’. The archway? It was entirely possible that this was metaphorical. But, whatever she meant…
Rionan
22:45: It would be my honour.
Alianna
22:47: you speak like an old-fashioned knight in a fairytale.
Rionan
22:47: I can only assume that is a positive thing. Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow?
Alianna
22:48: dinner? where?
Rionan
22:48: Why not come to The Rinniel? You speak about this place like it’s a palace made of gold. The food is rather nice. It’s only fair that, after you treated me to homemade mimosas and strawberries, I treat you to dinner. 7pm?
Alianna
22:50: it’s a date. See you tomorrow xo