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Hollis slid a boulder double the size of her to the side, and despite my offers to help, she did not seem to even break a sweat. I hesitated once she had disappeared inside, but her call from inside had my feet moving again.
The inside of the cave was, to my seemingly unending surprise, bigger than it looked on the outside. It stretched for miles, a decent sized pond with a running waterfall took up the space to my right, and the damp, humid air was a complete change from the cold air I had just been stood in. I swiped my hand across my forehead, ridding myself of the sudden sheen of sweat.
Hollis had gone farther into the cave, her silhouette an ever-decreasing focal point. I kicked a stone as I started walking again, cursing as I stumbled after Hollis. She had stopped at a small turning point, a grin on her face. The air grew even hotter the nearer to her I got, and I huffed uncomfortably in my winter jacket.
The turning point Hollis had stopped at opened the cave into an even wider space, the ground changing from the uneven surface it had been to a lush, green meadow. My eyes widened as I took in the space, the sight in front of me taking the breath from my lungs in one sharp whoosh.
From the middle of the swaying grass, Aepein lifted her head, her eyes narrowing at the sight of us. She had been particularly bitter since Kira had left, despite Hollis’s efforts at keeping her entertained and well cared for.
“This is ridiculous,” I laughed, shaking my head, andlooking down at the shorter woman beside me. “You did all of this?”
“Notallof it,” Hollis scolded me, her eyebrows furrowing, “Alexandre did most of it.”
I nodded; the Fae male was the only person I knew in Earth that was capable of this kind of magic. He was the only person I knew that could wield magic at all, since it had been eradicated from Earth before Hollis or I were even born. He had been teaching Hollis the basics of tapping into her own magic abilities since Kira left, and she had become increasingly impressive at throwing rocks at her brother from a mile away.
Hollis stepped forward into the grassy space, heading straight towards Aepein, who did not stand, but swished her tail curiously.
I stayed back, my eyes roaming over the open space in awe. Alexandre had truly outdone himself. He had never been one to show off with his magic, more one to keep it simple, but the space he had created for the dragons was truly a work of art.
Aepein stood from where she had been lay with a huff of air through her nostrils, smoke billowing up towards the open roof of the cave. Hollis had managed to coax her from where she had been lying, and she now chewed contentedly on the chicken Hollis had stolen from the kitchen. I shook my head, moving to Hollis’s side, earning a glare from the great beast in front of me.
“Oh, calm down.” Hollis scolded her, rolling her eyes. “It’s not his fault she’s not here.”
Aepein huffed, turning her back on the pair of us and throwing open her wings. The sudden gush of wind took me by surprise, causing me to stumble backwards a good five feet, Hollis almost falling to the grass beside me. I managed to grab her arm in time to stop her, but she grumbled all the same. The two of us watched as she took off into the sky with a screech, the downbeats of her wings making it hard for me to breathe properly until she had gotten far enough away.
“She is so moody.” Hollis sighed, dusting herself of the grass Aepein had thrown up when she flew off. I laughed, letting go of her arm and stepping away.
“No wonder you two get on so well, then.” My attempt to make Hollis laugh failed magnificently, only earning myself another glare from the small woman beside me.
Holding her gaze, I lifted one of my hands to her cheek, moving strands of hair that had fallen from her braid to behind her ear before she pressed her face into my palm, her eyes closing as she let out a content sigh. The wind coming in through the open roof was no longer bitingly cold, but it was chilly enough that I had begun to lose feelings in the tips of my fingers.
Hollis opened her eyes, staring up at me with her icy blue irises and looking so unlike herself that my heart ached in my chest. None of us, not even Gavrun, had been ourselves recently. Taking a step closer, I let my otherhand slide across Hollis’s waist. She placed her hands on my chest, tilting her head up as the hand on her cheek slid around to the back of her neck. Her breath hitched in her throat as her fingers curled around the fabric of my thick coat.
Gently, gentler than an eyelash falling onto a cheek, my lips ghosted against hers.
“This isn’t smart.” Hollis whispered, her lips brushing mine still as she spoke. This was not the first time we had done this recently, not at all, but she reminded me of this every time.
“I know,” I replied, my hand on the back of her neck tightening slightly, tilting her head back even more. “Do you want me to stop?”
The sharp shake of her head was enough for me to press my lips to hers fully.
The kiss was broken, and needy, and full of every emotion the two of us had tried our hardest to ignore up until then. It was the kiss of two lonely people, desperate to feel put together again.
~~~
“What are you thinking about?” Hollis asked, her head resting on my shoulder as her fingers danced across the middle of my chest.
We lay in the grass, my winter coat spread over the twoof us with our clothes strewn in every which direction. I stared up at the sky, the light blue darkening to an inky navy and then into black, dotted with white stars as they woke to keep the moon company.
“Nothing, I suppose.” I lied. My brain was spinning with thoughts — about Kira, about how she was, aboutwhereshe was… it was a continuous cycle of self-caused torture. Hollis’s body moved beside mine, and I pulled my eyes away from the sky to watch her sit up, her shoulders heaving in a sigh before she stood from where we had been lying. She was quiet as she gathered her clothes, her skin taking on a tint of blue due to the cold.
I sat up, pulling my coat tight over myself. Hollis’s eyes caught mine, but they were not the same, emotionally void eyes that I had seen earlier. They were full now, brimming with tears, and my heart broke in my chest. I reached forward, taking her wrist in my hand and stopping her in her tracks. Tugging on her wrist lightly, I pulled her back down into the grass with me, her head instantly burying into my chest as my arms wrapped around her shoulders.
We sat in silence, the only noises coming from the wind and Hollis’s sniffles as I rocked her gently. The cold air had seeped so deeply into my bones that I could not feel it anymore, but I put that to the back of my mind as I put a finger under Hollis’s chin, tilting her head so I could look at her face.
She did not meet my eyes, but tear tracks stained her cold-bitten cheeks, and my heart sunk in my chest.
“Why are you crying, doll?” I asked, using the nickname I had penned for her when she had joined the army all those years ago. She was so small, and delicate, she seemed just like a little doll.
