Oriana. Who was this woman? His mind mulled over too many things–everything he had heard and learned in the past two days–but there was one thing that continued to stick out like black sheep in a herd of white. Oriana knew more about the forest than she was letting on.
Oriana’s gaze was fixed pointedly on the ground in front of her, lost in thought.
“Yes,” she finally said, quickening her pace until they had made it back to the market square, which Garren could now clearly see was actually a circle. The entire town was built out in the same circular pattern and the market was its bullseye. In the blue light of the approaching dawn, it was quaint and serene–empty of people and merchants.
Oriana took a seat on the edge of the fountain, looking out over the horizon. “We might as well watch the sunrise.” She patted the spot next to her.
Garren obliged and took his place beside her on the fountain’s edge. It was a beautiful evening. Garren placed his hands on the cool stone surface leaning back as he stared up at the stars. It was so peaceful as the early signs of morning made their way out of hibernation. He loved the stillness and quiet of this time of day.
“I can’t imagine the pain of losing your family,” Oriana swallowed. “That must have been an extremely hard time for you. How old were you when they passed?”
“Fifteen,” he whispered.
She slid her slender hand into his once again, squeezing before pulling away just as before, but he held on tight, not wanting to feel the coldness he knew would come when the contact was broken.
“Many years before they died, I fought the demon that killed them. I wounded it, and it ran off. If I had only gone after it, finished it off that day, it wouldn’t have come back. It wouldn’t have…”
Oriana squeezed his hand once again. “It wasn’t your fault. You know that, don’t you? You couldn’t have known it would come back. You were only a child.”
He nodded, looking down at their clasped hands. “I know.”
Her hand felt so fragile in his. He feared that if he gripped it too tightly, it would shatter in his grasp. But that touch, the small delicate contact of their interlaced fingers felt so damned good, as if they were two puzzle pieces that had finally found where they fit.
It made no sense. He had known this woman for a few days, yet being here with her in this moment felt right, as if it was destined to be.
It felt like home.
“What are you thinking of?” Oriana’s angelic voice rang beside him.
“Of this place and of…you,” the last word came out nearly breathless as he looked down into her glowing eyes. “I don’t know what it is about you, but I feel something deep within my soul. I–I can’t make sense of it. I feel like we have known one another for a very long time, but it has been merely two days.”
A sudden warmth caressed his cheek as Oriana brought her free hand up to gently cup his face. He turned his head into it. Her eyes were alight with such a burning intensity that he couldn’t look away. Garren brought his own hand up, placing it over hers and pressing his cheek further into her affectionate touch.
“There is something inexplicable about you,” she said, rubbing a thumb tenderly along his jawline. As they continued gazing into each other’s eyes, he saw hers begin to change, shifting into the most brilliant green.
Those eyes, so familiar. He recalled them peering down at him through a gloomy haze of mist and trees. He furrowed his brow, trying to see the memory clearer.
And then, her entire appearance began to melt into someone else, as if a veil had been lifted from her features. Her face and body thinned into exquisite, almost ethereal features. She was still the Oriana he had known the past few days, just altered somehow. But those enticing dimples stayed as if no ounce of will or fate could have ever changed them.
Was this her? Had she somehow been hidden from him, beneath a dull and ordinary outer shell, as if she were a flame that had been snuffed out and finally lit anew, shining bright for all to see.
The last piece of her to transform was her hair, the deep auburn fading away to reveal a magnificently exotic snowy white that stole the breath from his lungs. He had no idea if this was a dream or reality, if his mind was still playing tricks on him.
Her head tilted and she smiled up at him. And Gods help him, that small smile, so sweet and utterly brilliant, deepened those beguiling dimples notched on either side of her enchanting mouth, and it was as if the chain holding him back had broken free. His lips descended onto hers in an instant. Hands on either side of her face, he pulled her closer. She tasted of honey and something much sweeter. He groaned against her mouth, reveling in the feel of his lips upon hers.
She remained frozen and stunned for a short second before conceding and fully sinking into the kiss. Oriana explored him just as desperately. His vision was suddenly marred as an image sharpened in his mind, as if a fog had been lifted, revealing what he had been unable to remember these past days. A paradise in the forest, a small cottage flowing with wildflowers of every color, a trickling stream, and golden rays of sunlight sparkling through the scene. And a pale, exquisite face with green eyes and flowing white hair.
Oriana, in the forest. In a utopia.
He pulled back abruptly. Oriana’s lips remained parted, her eyes open in confusion. “Is everything alright?” she questioned hesitantly.
All was perfectly back as it had been, her rich auburn hair still tied back, her blue eyes sparkling, her petite, curved frame leaning toward him. Just an ordinary woman, sat upon an ordinary fountain, surrounded by an ordinary town within the most extraordinary of places. He shook his head, dropping his hands from her face. The lack of warmth was instant, and he found himself missing the smoothness of her skin.
“Yes,” he finally managed. “We should get back to Haldis’s before daylight, get some sleep.”
“You no longer wish to stay and watch the sunrise with me?”
“Another time,” was all he could muster before he rose and strode through the square, desperately trying to ignore the disappointment on Oriana’s face as she trailed after him.
