21
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For the first time in about ten years, I rose with the sun.
My eyes peeled open to a tinge of orange that spread across the opening of the cave. Yawning, stretching my arms over my head, I pushed off of the ground where I had slept all night long against Urram’s wing.
By the time I made it to the cliff-edge, my jaw dropped and I couldn’t peel my eyes off of the sunrise that was lifting across Saoghal.
One step at a time I dared the treacherous descent down the mountain-side, until I was standing in the long grass of Cluaineach with the melting morning sun draped over every large blade of grass.
It was only then that I realized my body had been covered. I wore a large, green shirt made of the familiar Choilltean cloth, and someone had even bandaged the burning slice along my forearm.
Doubting my ability to decide which of my four friends had done that, I crept my way through the meadow grass until I was at a spot large enough and short enough to appreciate the sun as it shifted through a sky of orange-and-pink.
There, I dropped to the ground, pulled my knees up to my chest, and enjoyed a sunrise.
It was beautiful, beautiful like the late months of fall as the world turned rusty and the air grew chilly.
With every inch the sun crept my body warmed and warmed, not from the heat itself but from the mere sight.
From that familiar feeling of being in a world so vast, so inexplicably magnificent that my soul ached from the stretching of my chest.
“There you are.”
Raegan’s voice cut through the air around me, until his body was at my side a second later and he dropped down into the mud.
Crossing his legs in front of him, he found the lighting of the earth against the horizon just as I did, a small smile to his lips.
Just as the world around us came alive with the rising sun, so did Raegan.
The darkness that clung to him in Choilltean faded away, making room for the golden thread of his hair and the rosy-tint to his cheeks.
I wasn’t planning on commenting on the fact that under his surcoat, he no longer had his green shirt.
The silence between us wasn’t as venomous as normal.
Instead, it was filled with evidence of life in a world so small; crickets leaping from blade to blade as they made their path through the meadow, birds sweeping down amongst the grass and emerging with insects tight in their beaks, and the everlasting hum of winged things buzzing from place to place.
“Thank you.”
If I wasn’t so tired, I would have made a remark about the Prince having manners. But I was exhausted, so I simply looked at him and offered a small smile.
“You saved Gliocas last night.”
“I just did what any of you would have done—”
“No—” Raegan shook his head. “No, Olivia. You saved him. You…” He trailed off, his eyes dropping from mine. “I have no way of thanking you but this.” He pushed up to his feet, motioning for me to do the same.
Hesitantly, I rose.
“I’ve never shown anyone this before. But last night… Last night you held my whole heart in your hands and you saved Gliocas. The least I can do is try to show you what that means to me.”
I wasn’t sure where this was going, only that he didn’t need to prove anything to me. “Raegan, it’s fine–”
My mouth fell open when he shed his surcoat. It wasn’t very ladylike of me, but I couldn’t help but scan the tight skin of his torso, the deep grooves of his muscles and the sharp outline of him.
I had even less idea where he was going with this. “Raegan, seriously. It’s fine.”
“Would you be quiet for just a minute?” He chuckled, then glanced over his shoulder. Only once he was content with what he saw did he turn back to me. The Raegan that looked down at me was unlike any of the previous versions I had met. With a sigh, he turned and faced away from me.
“Raegan—”
His back burst open. Not literally, but two limbs emerged from between his shoulder-blades.
Two golden, sun-kissed wings of not leather nor iridescent film, but of feathers.
They ruffled in the low breeze of the morning as he stretched them wide.
And for a moment, Raegan’s head tilted back in relief, the most genuine smile to his lips stretching as the sun spilled over his beauty.
My mouth was still open when he turned back to face me.
“F-feathers? I haven’t seen feathers on anyone else.”
His face turned downwards as he nodded. “I think it was Cernunnos’ way of marking me. The sign of dirty blood, of the crossing of two kingdoms. It’s meant to be a curse, I believe.”
I couldn’t believe that. Not when they looked holy, outlined in a surreal, warm glow from the sun.
“But they’re… they’re beautiful,” I said, breathy, as I reached a hand out towards them.
Just as my fingers skimmed the softest of the feathers, Raegan twitched and shied away from the contact.
He looked down at me, something in his eyes that flashed an indescribable want, as the two of us held our breath.
As quickly as he had brought his wings forth, he tucked them away. Wrapping his coat back around himself, he dropped down to the earth once more. I had no choice but to follow him down, my mind still struck and my mouth opened with awe.
“I’ve never seen anything so exquisite, Raegan. Your problem with the females would be tenfold what it is now if you walked around with those out.”
He chuckled at me as he tried to hide the pain in his face. “My father doesn’t even know about them. If he did…”
I caught a glimpse of his mutilated ears and understood at last.
“Anyway,” he hummed, trying to keep his usual persona of cocky slyness to his face. “Consider that my payment to you. You’ve now seen something not a single pixie in Saoghal will ever see.”
In a way, I knew that Raegan hadn’t shown me his wings as payment. But I knew if I tried to comment on that, nothing good would come of it. Instead, I’d play along.
I allowed my own form of nervous laughter to trickle out. “You don’t need to pay me or thank me. You have your duties, I have mine.”
He nodded as if he understood.
“May I be honest with you, Raegan?”
A dark blond brow twitched at me.
“I don’t want to leave Saoghal.”
Like I knew the truth about the revealing of his wings, Raegan might have already known my secret. His face softened further as he nodded in agreement, his eyes diverting from mine. “You must, though.”
“Can’t I stay?”
Slightly humoured, the corners of his lips curled upwards. “The few humans that have tried did not mean peaceful ends. Your bodies are not meant to hold this form for long.”
I had suspected such. With a grumble of acceptance, I turned my sights back to the sun that was fully above the horizon. “I do not know what will become of me when I leave this place.”
Wordlessly, Raegan reached down between his boots and plucked something from the earth. He used a gentle touch to examine it; a harsh contrast to his brash appearance and warrior hands.
My voice seemed like a heavy anvil in the silence that had followed my secret declaration. “What is that?”
Chewing on the inside of his cheek, Raegan took a moment to consider answering me. Something won out in him as his shadowed eyes softened and he revealed a palm to me and the small flower that sat within.
As I leant closer to get a better look at the four-petalled golden flower, Raegan watched my every move with intensity. I couldn’t take my eyes off of the plucked plant in his calloused hands that seemed to omit a soft, ethereal glow.
“I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“You wouldn’t have.”
Our eyes accidentally met before either of us could look away.
“Humans often overlook that which is smaller than them.”
“It’s very beautiful.”
Glancing back down at the flower, Raegan almost smiled.
“It has many names. Aotrom is what we often call it, though. In Cluaineach, it is seen as a weed. It has this innate ability to grow no matter how little sun is present. For that reason, for those of Choilltean it represents resilience and persistence when we find it amongst the darkness of the forest. Not many things can grow where so little light shines.”
This time, it was intentional when he looked at my face. Grabbing onto my hand, he set the flower against my palm and curled my fingers around it before I could object.
He squeezed his hand around mine tighter, his face soft and open. “Keep it, Olivia. Let it guide you when you feel no light surrounds you.”
With a traitorous, quivering lip, I nodded at the Prince.
There was a beautiful gleam to his eyes as they dropped from mine and found my lips. His pupils widened for only a breath before he shook his head. “May I be honest with you, little human?”
The return of his strange nickname made me smile. “Yes.”
“I often wish it had been me that found you.”