All they had done during the cold months was find solace in each other’s bodies. Vesperin spent more time in the cave with Atlas than she did in her own home. Her father joked that her head was in the clouds. Her younger sister asked if someone had turned her eye, to which Vesperin smiled coyly and looked away.
She was grateful for the warmth, for now they could return to the willow tree.
Vesperin sat in the field of flowers, taking in the beauty of it all.
Atlas was beneath the tree, watching her. He always watched her.
The sky blushed pink, the faint impression of the twin moons barely seen.
A small butterfly flitted in the air before her. Its wings were baby blue. Vesperin raised a hand, and the tiny creature perched on the tip of her outstretched finger.
She smiled at it. "Hello."
She looked up, wanting to show Atlas, but his eyes were already on her, a strange expression gripping his handsome face. The long leaves of the willow cast shadows around him.
The butterfly flew away.
Beneath the willow tree, they made love. Moaning as his teeth nipped between her thighs, and he tasted her. Gasping against each other as he moved within her. Afterwards, he held her against his body, using her cloak to conceal her. He held her like he was afraid she was going to be taken from him.
Under that tree, they had each other many times, until the air grew sweltering and the sleeves of her gowns grew thinner and shorter with the suffocating heat.
Vesperin found herself growing sick again; though, she ate better than she ever had with the meat Atlas supplied for her—he did not want her wanting for anything.
She found herself rising early to expel her dinner in the wooden basin that had taken up residence by her bedside. The trek to the willow grew laborious, but she never missed a day.
Vesperin’s father grew ill.She wondered if it was the same illness gripping her, but her sickness seemed to only affect her in the morning.
Her father was sick all day, unable to leave bed.
She had to help her mother more—tending to the gardens and washing.
The time of her visits grew later.
Until one evening, she was unable to get away until the moons were high in the sky and the village was cloaked in darkness.
She pulled the hood of her cloak up, keeping herself covered.
As she walked past the border of her village, the trail grew uneven. Shadows flitted over the ground, and she gasped.
A light sparked ahead, and she looked up sharply, hood nearly falling back.
A shadow was right before her, crafted into the shape of a man.
She stepped back. The shadow wavered in the air.
She was alone. No one to hear her scream.
"Vesperin Vox." The words filled the air. She knew they came from the shadow, but the shadow had no mouth to speak with.
Her feet stuck to the ground. She couldn’t move. Her body was frozen.
"You have sinned. Humans are not meant to know Celestials, and you have not only known a Celestial, but lain with one."
She couldn’t move her mouth.
"In your womb, you carry an abomination. It cannot live."
If she could move, she would have fallen to the ground.
