Amusement swam in eyes from a face that never smiled. “I will not drop you.”
“Flying would be much faster,” her cousin added as he slipped off his tunic.
Dyna nodded reluctantly.
Zev moved behind a cluster of bushes to finish undressing and he sauntered out as a wolf. Once their packs were strapped to his back with some rope Cassiel produced, they were ready.
Cassiel said to him, “Let’s meet in Elms Nook. It is a woodland seventy-five miles east from here.”
Her cousin could run that much distance in a night, but she was not sure about the Prince. He didn’t appear concerned about it.
Zev nuzzled her shoulder then took off into the forest, the chains jangling in his wake. Dyna prayed he would be all right.
“Keep the coat,” Cassiel said. “You will need it.”
He fixed it over her shoulders and made sure the length covered her legs. The long coat reached to her feet, gathering on the ground and deflecting most of the frosty air. His graceful fingers fastened each button and buckled the belts. She peered up at him as he worked, not sure what to make of this unexpected consideration.
Once the coat enveloped her, he lifted the collar around her neck. The edge of his hand grazed her chin, leaving a faint tingle where he had touched her and she couldn’t help shivering. Cassiel took a step back, rubbing his hand like he wanted to remove the sensation.
The oversized coat may be more than a means to guard her against the cold, but also a way to guard him against her.
The Prince studied her, his brow furrowing. “We will have to see about you learning how to defend yourself.” The way he said it sounded like a thought he unintentionally spoke aloud. “Ready?”
Dyna nodded, something fluttering in her chest. Not looking away from him, she gathered her nerve and closed the gap between them again. He stood quietly, considering, or perhaps waiting for her to decide. She slowly latched her arms around his neck. He inhaled a low breath, and his hands hesitantly, lightly, settled on her waist. There were many layers between them, yet heat radiated where they joined.
“I’m ready,” she whispered.
Cassiel crouched, and her heart jolted when he swept her off her feet. She easily fit into the crook of his arms. There was strength in them and security in the manner he held her. Wings spreading wide, his muscles flexed beneath her, legs bracing. He looked up, and a rare excitement rose to his face.
“Hold fast.” The words were soft against her cheek and her only warning.
They shot into the sky.
Dyna gasped at the whip of icy wind. She dug her fingers into Cassiel’s back or tried to. His firm shoulders moved fluidly under her hands in a steady rhythm as they climbed higher. He was more lean than muscular, containing his own kind of strength. He needed to be strong to control such massive wings.
They gracefully beat, riding the night wind. He took her further than the treetops he had kept to before. Landcaster quickly grew smaller until it was nothing but a smudge on land. The tail end of the Zafiro Mountains rose in the distance. They stood mighty and proud in their witness until they too grew smaller. It showed how far she’d gone from home.
Wonder pushed down her fear and she settled against Cassiel, seeing the world from a new perspective. He carried them on swift wings, no falter brought on by her extra weight. This was his natural ability, a part of who he was, and it peeled away a section of his carefully placed mask. Beneath the cool exterior, she glimpsed a side of him he hid so well. The pure joy it brought him to fly.
At the sight of her smile, a cocky smirk surfaced on his face. “Shall we rise above the clouds?”
“Impossible.”
A touch of mirth glinted in his eyes and Dyna immediately regretted challenging him. His arms tightened around her, pulling her flush against his long frame. She could almost feel his heart and the elation beating with it. Or was it her own?
The wind rushed to meet them as they picked up speed, whipping her hair into her eyes. Dyna clung tight to his smooth coat, but she trusted Cassiel not to drop her. Even with the hundreds of feet of distance between her and the ground, she knew there was no safer place than in his arms.
He flew higher, icy air stinging her face. She looked up at the canopy of rapidly incoming clouds and gasped. They dove into the barrier, a blanket of mist coating them. There was nothing but a thick, grey shroud. She struggled to breathe in the thin air. As soon as she thought there would be no end, they broke through.
They had entered a new plain entirely. A soft land swathed in brilliant moonlight. Nearly a full pearl, the gleaming moon reigned among the immense throne of clouds, a queen in its own right. The view was stunning.
Dyna glanced at Cassiel and saw he was pleased with whatever he gleaned from her obvious awe. The moonlight cast him in a glow. His black wings shimmered like they were covered in a layer of frost. For once his gaze was warm and searching. He didn’t fully smile, but it surprised her to see the makings of one there in the corners of his mouth. This was a gift she realized. An intimate piece of his life he chose to share with her.
“Possibility is limited by perception,” he said thoughtfully as if the thought was a new revelation.
What was their first encounter, but an impossibility made a reality? Days ago, she could not have fathomed his existence, and yet here he was. A descendant from the Heaven’s, showing her far more than she could have imagined. That was the true gift.
“May it not be limited by our belief,” was her reply as she admired the divine creation of him. “But by our imagination.”
