This time, I detect nothing but the salty air of the rocking sea below.
twenty-seven
Dove
The comforting ease withwhich our bodies mould together on the journey should send alarm bells ringing through my being, but instead, a solace sets in. It is effortless in its beginnings. My whole body releases its rigidity. An unknown experience for my tired form.
Even in the sanctuary of my temple room, I kept my wits about me. I’d been unknowingly taught that my own kind were takers from the small actions they undertook each turn against me. The manipulations never got old, never sparing anything in return but an odd kindnesslike a smile or a word of encouragement for their benefit. Never truly mine.
The bond within me is unravelling at an unnerving rate.
If given the choice, I would curl under a tree and slip into slumber, hoping the moss and wisps take care of my soul. My body has already been stolen from me in many ways. Even this bond isn’t of my choosing, and it fills me with such confusion.
In some ways, I want it. I revere its comfort, its joy, its care, but it is another liar, and I am no fool.
Without this bond, Prince Rivern would not have feelings for me, and he would not be helping me. I would be like any other human to him—the people who had run his ancestors out of his kingdom.
A soothing hand rests on my thigh, giving it a squeeze. My mind shoots back to our conversation with Gideon, when this touch kept me grounded.
This small comfort destabilises me. Surely, Rivern can’t know me so well. He cannot understand my needs so soon. We have only known each for barely a turn of the darkness and light.
“You know, if we were fully bonded, we would be able to communicate without the need for speech.” I have a suspicious feeling he can already read my thoughts, or at least my body and the contradictions that wander through the bond, unbidden.
“Oh.” The sound can barely be heard off the tumbling breeze in the meadow we are traversing through, but he hears me. He always manages to hear me.
The hand on my breeches-covered thigh squeezes tighter. “Yes. In the stories, they say even your heartbeats become one.”
My heart jumbles erratically in my chest at the idea. “That actually sounds kind of scary.”
Amusement runs through our connection at my words.
“Yes, I can see how being tethered to me would be a hardship. You, on the other hand, Little Dove… I feast on the conception of our hearts becoming one.”
Everything within me slows. This news surprises me, especially since he has been so adamant about breaking this bond. I judge the still-rabid rhythm within my chest. My very shattered heart simmers and blends in a slow melting of acceptance. A knowing I must ignore for the greater good.
There’s nothing to say, so I gawk at the now-still trees before us, Mage’s feet moving through tall, willowy grass, the silhouette of Rivern’s front plastered to my back.
With the way he currently has our bodies glued together, he already thinks we are one.
Solen dives down before us. “Hello, friend,” Rivern says, close to my ear, addressing his intimate. His breath sends shivers down my spine in my seated position in front of him.
“Interesting,” he muses aloud, and the large bird flies off.
“What’s so interesting?” I try to turn my body to see his face, but I wobble, and my prince catches me around the waist, hugging me towards his body with his steely forearms.
“The wolf is still making his way down the mountain. He even took a rest at the top. It’s like…”
“What?” I ask, breathless for his next words.Goddess, Dove, if Wren were here, she would be telling you to turn the thirst down for sure. I missthe voice in my head something fierce. Who knows when things will calm down enough for her to return.
“He’s giving us time,” Rivern answers, sending sparks alight in my body at the unexpected news. “With everything we discussed in the wolf’s lair, it sounds like the king didn’t give exacting orders.”
Rivern is right. Gideon explained that, with the death of each ruling monarch, they lost the knowledge to fully control the dyre wolves.Is my beast giving us a head start?
“But why would he help us?” I ponder.
“Because he wants rid of his king just as much as you do?” Knowing I have someone out there with a similar goal to my own strikes me with new vigour.If I kill the king, I save the villagers of Havenandthe wolves. Does Gideon want me to succeed?He showed no love for his oppressor.
“Can we go faster?” I grab Rivern’s right hand and pull at the reins firmly within his grasp.
