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His gray and gilded hair frosts over from the chill. He’s as beautiful and ruinous as he was when we met. I watch as he swoops closer to me. I sip in a breath, worried he’ll see right through my walls.
“Your storms willalwaysbe my storms too, and if you allow it, I’ll always weather them with you, love.”
“But… why?” My voice quivers with the emotion I’m trying so desperately to keep from him.
His face relaxes and the rays of pink and orange hit his shimmering skin as white flakes of snow dust lovingly against his cheeks. His amethyst eyes connect to mine.
“Because that’s where I found you, love.” His lip slips up, I can’t tell if his cheeks are reddening because of the cold or his emotions. “That’s where I fucking foundyouand where you found yourself too… and I’ll never forget any of it. Ever.”
I can’t hold my heart behind my walls anymore. A tear drops from my chin as I recite the words that have haunted my soul for the last several months.
“Even if I’m not real… the rain greets me nonetheless.”
For the first time a tear breaks from his eyes too. “The sun warms me anyway.” His voice trembles.
“This moment… this moment means something to me,” I whisper. We’re locked in a timeless world, the snow crashing through us and the sunbeams brightening at the end of the dark clouds.
“That’s real enough, love. It’s so much more than enough.”
We collide.
I connect with him with everything I am. Our lips are cold with frost and our hands quickly wrap around one another. He hooks one around the nape of my neck and I break the kiss with a breath. Our eyes connect. Hope and affection dance in his gaze.
“I fucking hate you,” I murmur against his lips.
“I love you.”
“I know you do, Arulius. And it makes it hard to let you go.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because… because I love you too.” I choke on the words and we crash into one another with the promise of rain-touched kisses and the warmth of the sun. He grasps my face and presses his forehead to mine as we twirl in the storm with wings stretched out.
“I’ve waited endless nights to hear you say that again.” His warm breath curls against my lips.
“Yeah?” I look at him with softness in my gaze, a gentle brush of affection that I’m not sure I’ll be able to live with myself for feeling for him, but I want it. Doesn’t my heart get a choice? I’m beginning to think it does.
“Yeah.”
I don’t know if I can ever entirely forgive him, but this is a really good start. It feels like the missing piece to my healing heart. I shove him away playfully and start to fly as fast as I can toward the sunbeams that break through the clouds.
“I’m not a one-guy kind of girl anymore. So you’re going to have to share. I’ll never give up KastianorRune,” I shout as the snow brushes my face and I feel so fucking free and clean. The pure frozen flakes wash me of all my trauma and grief. It’s like I’m finallyme.
I feel a tug of jealousy in my chest through the bond, but he’s flying quickly after me with a snide grin on his lips. “Yeah, yeah, you keep your ground-dwelling pet. But your storms? They belong to me, love.”
A laugh breaks from me and my healing heart spreads herself wide with the exhilaration of the skies.
I was created to fly—why the fuck did I wait so long to spread my wings? Broken or not, I’m the Goddess of Life, of Dawn.
I belong up here.
The sun’s setting and we’re still at least an hour’s flight away from Nesbrim. Our feathers are soundless against the sky as we glide back.
“So tell me, Arulius. You promised. It’s the only way I’ll even consider forgiving you.”
He looks at me and his expression darkens, eyes softening with pain as he nods. “It’s no secret to you that I knew Talia.”
I nod, keeping my eyes on the mountains ahead. Nesbrim’s lights are becoming visible as the last sun rays slip into twilight, the stars mingling with the warmth on the horizon.
