Just as violently as it had appeared, the gale stopped, calming to nothing more than a cool breeze. Her heart stuttered when Brand released her, but it was only so he could reach in to part the screen of her hair, his deep chuckle doing funny things to her.
“My apologies. I’d forgotten the wind could be like that on the portal side of the peak.”
As he smoothed the curls and waves back, the amusement left his face to be replaced with something else.
Eyes darting, lids fluttering, he watched his own fingers moving through the strands. When he tucked the locks gently behind her ears, his lips parted as if words were waiting just on the other side to come tumbling out, but it was only shallow breaths that left him.
Lunara found her own lungs mimicking the action, and she couldn’t tell whether it was relief or crushing disappointment that flooded her when he backed away and let his arms drop.
“Where have you brought me?”
He nudged her forward, turning her as he spoke. “I thought someone who’d never seen Solyrian before today should witness their first sunset like this.”
The sound that left Lunara could not be described by any words she knew. It was like part of her soul wrenched itself from her body, just to come falling back with all the force of a comet landing.
In a million lifetimes, she never could have imagined…
Crowned by the castle and its many towers, all of the Horned City was spread before her, stretching and spilling down the mountainside. Pure, evening sunlight bathed the mass of rooftops and stone, the biggest trees she’d ever seen scattered amongst it all and providing shade beneath their evergreen canopies. Winding streets twisted amidst the landscape and structures, all leading her eye to the vast, glittering sea below.
And there, blazing just above the watery horizon, was the sunstar.
It shimmered as it sank slowly towards the waves. This time, she felt the tears as they flowed freely down her cheeks, dripping unchecked and lost to the earth. There were no words. She only wished she could capture this moment forever and live safe within its bright warmth.
She would have missed this if she’d left. Would have run back to her realm of endless dark and never known that such beauty existed.
How could she ever go back to Nachthelliae, to a cottage bathed in shadow and only her own thoughts for company? She wasn’t sure she’d be able to do it. Wasn’t sure she could accept not being able to see such a sight with regularity.
Accept payment from Lyriat the second this adventure is over, and you won’t have to.
Sisters, it was tempting. She’d thought to only call on the debt if the Council started to close in, but now?—
“And how do you find it, my lady?” Brand repeated his earlier words, pressed close enough that she could feel his breath stirring against her ear.
She had no idea when he’d gotten so near, had been too entranced. “Quite stirring,” she whispered. “Obviously.”
Brand stepped away and the ground shuddered. She spun to find him with his hand extended, stone cracking and warpingat his command. It rose up, viscous, shifting like liquid until it finally formed a long bench in the settling dust.
He brushed off the top and gestured for her to sit, claiming the other half for himself.
“I haven’t been up here in a very long time,” he said, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together between them. “I’d forgotten the majesty of it.”
The final rays of day set his hair alight as he looked out over the view, the normally subdued auburn turning to fire and making his horns stand out more starkly.
Blessed moons, the view wasn’t the only majestic thing there.
Lunara cleared her throat, heart hammering. “I think I’d be tempted to come up every single day, if this were my home.”
Brand tilted his head to look at her. “There are views to rival this one in the Evesong. Some, I would say, that are far better.”
“None that I can think of.” Starkeep didn’t count anymore. “Though I don’t get around very much, as we’ve already established.”
He hummed a low sound that did funny things to her. “Why is that? We’re close in age, according to Thad. I would have assumed you’d been everywhere by now.”
His look was penetrating. So much was conveyed in that stare that he wasn’t saying out loud.
Careful.
She had no wish to lie, but she barely knew him. Lyriat was a king and had given her no choice. While Brand was, in many ways, much more than a king, his question left room for her to decide how to respond.
