Oriana pulled on the mist of the Phantom Wood, drawing it out, making it thicker and denser until one could hardly see their own hand held out in front of their face. She veered from the path, placing an enchantment of herself to remain on the trail, an illusion for him to follow through the forest.
She watched as he picked up speed, attempting to push aside the blanket of fog as it circled like a cocoon around him.
“Garren,” she whispered, throwing her voice out so that he heard it just behind his left ear.
He whirled, searching the mist with an intensity that almost made her laugh out loud.
“Garren,” she whispered again, pushing her voice so that this time it brushed against his other ear.
He turned, prodding the fog a bit more frantically.
“Garren,” she whispered again.
He spun round to the other side, squinting through the haze and taking long strides toward the fading illusion of herself that she had enchanted to continue on through the forest.
This time, she crept her way behind him until she was so close he could surely feel her breath on his back, but just as she was about to whisper his name again, he spun with an arching fist and hit her square in the jaw.
She yelped and stumbled back. “Shit, Garren. I didn’t realize you were so easily spooked.” Oriana worked her jaw back and forth, rubbing at the soreness. It had actually hurt. She had felt the full force of the impact. She furrowed her brow. What the hell?
“How did you…” Garren looked behind him, where the fog had cleared and the enchantment of herself had disappeared, then back to her. “I could have sworn you were just…” but he trailed off, finally realizing what he had just done. “Oh, Gods, Oriana, are you okay? I thought you were…I didn’t hold back on that swing, I…” he stopped again, hesitating, a sudden look of uneasiness crossing over his face. “I didn’t hold back.”
He said the last bit slowly, more to himself as if in question, trying to work out what had just happened.
“Why were you following me?” she asked, continuing to rub her throbbing jaw. He really hadn’t held back. She had been hit countless times before, kicked by a horse, even fallen from the tops of trees in the Phantom Wood, yet none of those things had caused her even the slightest bit of pain. Yet, a single punch from this man and she felt as if he’d broken her jaw. First his sword, now this.
He didn’t answer her question. His eyes were fixed intently on her as if he was attempting to solve a puzzle.
“Garren, I asked you a question. Why were you following me?”
He only continued to gaze at her, his eyes stroking over her, as his brow wrinkled.
“Where exactly did you say you were from again?” She tried once more, but when he still didn’t respond, she slapped him hard across the face.
Gods, that felt good. She might have felt bad about it in any normal circumstance, but she had built up so much irritation and hurt toward how he had treated her these past weeks that it gave her just an inkling of joy to hit him like that.
“What the fuck!” he barked, grabbing her wrist before she had fully withdrawn it.
“You hit me first,” she said with a shrug.
“Well, you shouldn’t have snuck up on me.” He took a step closer.
“You were following me.”
“With good reason,” Garren took another step toward her. The air between them shifted, their collective frustration sparking with a kinetic force that heated her to her core. “Hasn’t everyone been telling me not to go into the forest, especially on the eve of a full moon? And what do I see you doing, but just that.”
“What do you care? You haven’t given me a passing glance or thought since that day on the cliffs.” Her voice wavered, and she cursed herself for that small reveal of her emotions.
He growled an animalistic sound, yanked her to his chest, and wrapped a thick arm around her waist. “You–you are so incredibly infuriating. You are a mystery I can’t seem to solve, and–” He swallowed, almost choking on the words. “You are a song my soul is constantly, hopelessly drawn to. You have not once left my mind, Oriana. Not since the day I met you.”
Oriana breathed in his words, his scent and his entire being welcoming it like an embrace. She wanted nothing more than for him to kiss her again like he had that night. But it was that very thought that had her pushing him away, just as he had during each of the tender, passionate moments they had shared.
“Then why have you ignored me all these weeks? Casting me off as nothing more than a passing acquaintance?” She hated the way she sounded–like a jilted lover with a broken heart–but she would be lying if she said he hadn’t hurt her.
“Oriana, I–” With each step he took toward her she retreated one step backward until he finally stopped, running a hand through his hair with a heavy sigh. “That night when you found me in the forest,” he began. “I’ve been remembering things. I had been wandering through the forest for I don’t know how long. Hours…maybe days? And just as my vision began to blur, and I thought I couldn’t go on any longer, I saw a light. I followed it, pushing through the darkness, and when I finally made it, I was surrounded by the most mystifying place. It was overflowing with life and beauty. It almost feels like a dream, but I know it wasn’t. I can clearly remember the feel and smell of the place.” He paused, and it took great effort for Oriana not to react to his next words. “There was a woman. I can see her so perfectly in my mind. She had the most distinguishing features. When we kissed in the market square, it was as if you had transformed into her for a fleeting moment. It was disorienting, and I thought it to be some kind of hallucination, but then it happened again upon those cliffs all those weeks ago.”
Oriana couldn’t breathe.
“I didn’t know what to think,” he continued. “Two times it had happened and only with you. I thought it was me, that when I looked at other women in the town whose features might be similar, I would see her again, but it never happened. And then I recalled the morning when you invited me to the market square.”
