Airess threw the apple core into the fyre at the thought, frustrated she had more questions than answers.
Taryn raised a brow. “A violent thing you are today.”
Her cheeks warmed. “It just – I just –” For some reason, she found herself wordless. Her shoulders slumped as she sat forward, gathering her thoughts.
“I’m frustrated. Everything has changed so quickly in such a little time. Somehow,youhave ended up being my only ally, and quite frankly, the only person I know. I went from future queen to rogue fugitive, wanted by the most powerful people in the country.” Airess laughed bitterly. “And yet, through all this strife, I would do it all over again if it meant getting away from the Luciens.”
Saying the words out loud felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. She looked to Taryn, afraid he wouldn’t want to hear anymore of her outburst. His brows creased as he took a sip of his flask.
“What could make a daughter of a Lord despise royal society so much?”
Airess contemplated his words, and reached over to grab the flask, taking a swig, not expecting the harsh burning sensation of what tasted like whiskey to go down her throat. As she handed it back to him, she said, “I had been taught since I was ten years old that I belonged to Arzhel, that I would be his wife. That I would… bear his children.
Taryn’s face flickered with rage. His eyes darkened, but he stayed quiet and listened.
“The Luciens made sure I was educated the way a queen should be educated. But there were two major problems. My power never grew as they hoped. They were wary of marrying me off to him, so they postponed the wedding.”
“What was the second problem?”
Airess tucked hair behind her faintly pointed ear. “I’m half Human. They weren’t willing to marry off a powerlessmuttto their precious prince. They kept my presence discreet, never letting me out of the castle unless it was void of visitors. Guards followed me everywhere I went. As the years went on, the Luciens became impatient with my lack of Magick. They hired countless professors to teach me. But who can teach a dead art? None of the lessons ever worked. Arzhel became the most impatient of them all. He grew… angry. Cruel. He resents me for causing weakness to his position.”
Taryn was silent for a beat before he quietly asked, “You didn’t have your mother and your father there with you? No friends?”
Airess didn’t answer right away. She stared into the fyre, the orange light flickering across her face. The crackling of wood filled the silence before she shook her head, nails digging into her skin. “I had a friend, for a time. Bitterness changed her into someone unrecognizable. We grew apart.” She made sure to avoid the questioning about her parents. She wasn’t ready to divulge all of her past to him quite yet.
“If they postponed the wedding because your powers hadn’t manifested in the way they hoped, why didn’t Arzhel marry someone else? Why you?”
“You’re asking me,” she muttered. “I overheard the queen once. She was talking about how sheknowsI am special and that it is only a matter of time. They pushed it off because Arzhel requested it. He never cared about marrying me.”
There was once a time she convinced herself to love Arzhel, or tried too, anyway. That was when they were young, and his cruelty hadn’t reached its peak. Airess had hopes of living a happy life, a happy marriage. Those days were lost in time, a remnant of a different girl who looked at the world innocently. She knew better now.
“You didn’t deserve any of it,” Taryn said as his silver gazed pierced through her. “You belong tono one, Airess.”
You belong to no one.
The words echoed in her mind. The concept was utterly foreign, but deep in her heart, it felt right. Airess loosened a breath.
“Thank you,” she said quietly. Suddenly wanting to change the subject, she angled herself towards Taryn. “Are you mentally prepared to dreamwalk tonight?”
“I’m not sure how onepreparesto dream.”
“Dreamwalk,” Airess corrected. “As preparation goes, I find it most helpful to meditate before going to sleep. Entering the dreamworld can be disorienting. Sometimes, it can be so frightening it causes you to wake up and leaves you with a bad night’s sleep. It’s hard to control that part but you can at least still your mind to ease into it.”
She laid her cloak flat on the ground and lay on her back. “We’ll start this way.”
His eyes widened. “You want me to meditate? Right now?”
Airess laughed. “Yes, Taryn. You teach me to defend myself and I’ll do my best to teach you how to navigate the dreamworld.”
Taryn gaped at her and retrieved his cloak, laying it flat on the ground before settling onto his back. She looked up to the night sky, filled with twinkling stars, and a sensation of peace came over her. Airess closed her eyes and took a deep breath in.
“When I first started out, I could never still my mind enough to relax. I would breathe in four seconds, hold it for four seconds, then breathe out for four. Over and over again until I was emptied of all thoughts.” She turned her head to look at the side of his face, his body laying a few feet away from hers, and smirked at him. “Consider thismylesson for the night. In this case, we are getting your mind familiar.”
The sound of deep breathing followed as she closed her eyes. Airess couldn’t believe she was here, with him, teaching him how to meditate. Just a week ago she was in a lesson with one of the Magick professors getting lectured on how she’s not trying hard enough to produce Magick.
Maybe, she thought, things in life came easier to those who accepted things as they are, who were led by their heart rather than greed.
“This is impossible,” Taryn’s voice cut through the silence, “If this is what you used to do when you started meditating, what do you do now?”
