Huntress in the Castle: Chapter Five (special preview)

I am flying through the trees, holding tight onto the horns coming from his shoulders. Trees whiz by at a speed I have never witnessed. I have to wrap my arms around his neck as he goes nearly sideways on an embankment and then he climbs up it. He scales all the way to the top and from his back, I can see the entire world.

“Oh wow…” I whisper, lowering down and hugging onto his neck again. “Thank you for bringing me here.” I give him a squeeze. “It’ so beautiful.”

“It’ll be dark soon.” He tells me, one hand comes up, squeezing my forearm. “I don’t want to scare you on the way back. It’ll be too dark for you to see.”

“No. Please. I want to see the stars.” I bounce excitedly.

He reaches up, and with one hand plucks me off his back then holds me, sitting on his arm against his chest. I loop my arms around his neck and lean my head against his shoulder, watching the sunset.

“If I could, I’d show you the world.”

I look up at him, his eyes glowing brilliantly in the dimming light. “I don’t need to see the world.” I put my hand on his chest. “This right here, is all the world I will ever need.”

His arms engulf me, cradling me close. “I had no world until you came and made one for me.”

“I am a small world.” I murmur quietly.

“You have not seen yourself fully.” He lets go, and the cold night air reaches me again.

I look back up to him and smile.

He buries his face in my hair, and I feel his warm breath on my scalp, bleeding down to the back of my neck. He kisses my hair, his hand on my small of my back.

I feel the cold air touch my cheek, almost searing against his heat.

I tug then on his collar. “Let’s head back. It’s cold. I don’t want you to freeze.”

He removes his cape then and wraps me up in it before placing me on his back again. “Hold on as tight as you need, you won’t harm me. The ride will be quite bumpy.”

I hook my arms around his neck. “I’m ready.” I say excitedly.

The rush of cold air that hit my face as he began to run made my eyes burn and my cheeks ache so I buried my face into his neck. The hiss the trees whizzing by and the dirt he kicked up behind us sounded no more like the wind. I looked up momentarily to see if I could see anything, but the most of could make out was the blur of the moon above us. I placed my face back in the protective warmth of his neck.

He jumped the wall around the garden and landed with a graceful thud. He then reached back and picked me up, setting me gently on the ground. “Are you ok?”

I caught my breath and laughed, tightening his cape around me. “Oh yes! Better than ok!”

I don’t know if it was a trick of the eye or the light of the moon, but his eyes seemed to glow brighter. He reached out, taking my hand and helped guide be back into the castle.

“Fun trip?” Nadine asked with a smile.

I nodded. “I wish you could of seen it, Nadine.”

She nods sadly. “There is hot coco waiting for you in the library.” She said. “I thought you might enjoy it.”

“Yes, thank you.” I say as Vered leads me away.

We sit before the roaring fire in the library and he pours me a cup of the steaming, syrup like mixture. As the days began to get colder, I had taken more and more refuge in the library. Vered would read to me and I would curl up beside him.

“I’m glad you had fun tonight.” Vered replied.

I looked up at him from my cup. “Did you think it would go any other way?”

He shrugged. “I’m still learning. I didn’t know if it would scare you or not.”

I wanted to tell him the only thing he could do to scare me at this point would be to turn me away. “You should know by now I don’t scare easily.”

He chuckles. “Yes. I know that now.” He reaches out and runs his sharp claws through my hair, removing the bits of sticks and leaves that had gotten tangled in the curls during our run. He had taken up combing my hair while we read. His hand would come up and then his claws would go through my hair, easily parting knots and tangles. It was scary at first to realize that those claws could probably open my skull, but now it was soothing.

I caught his hand as he began to pull it away and I cupped it to my cheek. His paw was cool and smelled like earth. My heart was pounding so fast . What was he doing to me?

“I-” His voice choked off in his throat.

“My cheeks were cold.” I sputtered.

I’m sure to him they were scalding.

Vered put an arm around me, wrapping about my back and waist and pulled me into his side, burying me in what I had begun calling my nook.

“I always thought I was damned.” Vered murmured. “That this castle would be my tomb. But I never thought, that perhaps, it was supposed to belong to someone else.” His chest shudders. “It was meant for you. All of it. This castle, my sister and me…we were all just waiting on you.”

I look up at Vered, his eyes that still make my soul clinch, his face that had once seemed monstrous now seemed so beautiful to me. “I was always told that I had a fate in the forest. A destiny just for me.” I turn slightly, just enough to wrap my arms around him. “My Granny told me this from the moment I could understand. I am so sorry I kept you waiting.”

Vered’s hand covered my back. “That is your one flaw, Fianna.”

I laughed, feeling some tears in my eyes, I hid my face in his tunic.

“In the past…before I came here, you probably would have hated me.” He was pulling me up, placing me in his lap. “I would not of seen you at all. That’s how blind I was.”

I raise up on my knees and place my hands on either side of his face. The Vered he was, the real monster Nadine had told me about, I would of wanted to see him too. That’s how much I cared for Vered now.

“Blind or no, you’d still be my Vered.” I kissed his cheek, then wrapped my arms around his neck. “Because we were always meant to be together”

Vered embraced me, holding me tight. A sigh escaped his throat, a deep painful sigh of relief.

“If only…” He’s voice broke.

I pull back, putting my hand on his soft cheek.

“I wish I could be beautiful for you.”