“You will leave, and I will be here. I won’t see you again.”
“Ali,” Rionan replied softly, “I will come back for you when all is done in Xanthia.”
“And what then, Rionan?” she replied, looking up. A tear slid down her cheek. “You have told me yourself, you cannot stay away for too long. How often will I see you? How much older will I be every time you visit? Will it be a matter of days before I lose you again, for decades? A brief moment of your immortal life is a good portion of my own.”
Rionan brushed the tear away, the unspoken sadness on her face causing her thoughts and worries to tumble out of her like an unstoppable current.
“We are bonded, Rionan. Why?Why has this happened? You are Xanthian. I am human. In what is only a mere fraction of your lifetime, my life will be over, I will be gone – ”
“Don’t,” Rionan interrupted, voice hard. “Do not talk about me losing you. Do not talk about you being gone. Do not question why my magic bonded me to you.”
“Why, Rionan? Why shouldn’t I question it? It makes no sense. How can we continue this, whatever it is between us – ”
“You should not question it because I am in love with you,” Rionan cut her off, with a firm affection in his words.
She looked to him, tears spilling from her eyes. His mask was broken, and the feelings she knew he was experiencing were written on his face: sorrow, despair, longing.
“I am in love with you, Ali,” he repeated, still holding one hand, raising the other to cup her damp cheek. “My magic brought me to Porthan to find something to save my realm and my people. I found the stone of the four lords, but I also found you. A light in the darkness. A sliver of salvation when hope was lost.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. “I will never regret that I am bonded to you. From now until my last breath, Ali, I am yours.”
Alianna stared at Rionan for what felt like eternity, his eyes never leaving her face. He shifted into his Xanthian form,and she didn’t flinch away. She didn’t move. She just took in that strange, ethereal grace, her heart hammering in her chest, yearning for him and breaking at the same time.
She released a breath, not realising she was holding it.
“I will come back to see you, Ali. As soon as I can. There will not be a moment when I do not wish to have you by my side. As soon as it is safe to return to you, I will. As often as I can.”
Rionan pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, closing his eyes and inhaling softly. Alianna could not find the words to express what was going through her head, the crushing feeling in her chest, and how desperately she did not want him to go.
Rionan and Alianna ordered a Chinese takeaway that night, Rionan sharing that he had never eaten with chopsticks before. She laughed as he repeatedly dropped his noodles, but refused to use a forkinstead. Shadow was curled up by their feet, a candle lit on the table in front of them, and they enjoyed their company in a silence that cradled them into the evening.
Before dinner, they had agreed on what Rionan would do the next day. He would go to the museum alone and speak to a member of staff. He would use his powers to get this person to unlock the cabinet that the stone was kept in, and at 3pm, they would switch off all of the cameras. Rionan would retrieve the stone, conceal it within a bag, and wipe the person’s memories of his presence before leaving.
“Could you not ask them to just bring you the stone?” Alianna had suggested.
“No,” Rionan had replied. “I need to ensure it is brought to me safely, and I can’t trust somebody else to do that.”
As the clock struck 10pm, Alianna nestled into Rionan, his arms pulling her close. He breathed her in, and she felt a warmth ignite in her chest. It was not a warmth of lust. It was a warmth of affection, of care, and of love. The feelingwrapped around her like a blanket, soothing her mind, her soul, and her racing heart.
She was his, and he was hers.
Alianna could feel Rionan’s heart beating steadily in his chest against her cheek, and with the way the warmth blossomed within her, she knew that despite what awaited them tomorrow, he felt the same sense of private tranquillity.
Rionan made love to Alianna that night. Their movements were not frantic, their kisses not ravaging and lust-filled, but slow and tender. Rionan moved between her legs like he was worshipping a goddess, the kisses he scattered down her neck gentle, his elongated canines caressing her as his mouth moved. As Alianna found her release, his lips moved on hers slowly, swallowing her moans, and she felt a glow in the air around them, cocooning them in the comfort of their bond. The feeling grew and grew until Rionan found his own release, panting into Alianna’s neck, his mouth barely leaving her skin.
It was some time before he rolled off of her, pulling her into his arms. The feeling of that comforting glow took some time to fade, and when it did, Rionan was staring down at her.
“I love you,” he repeated again, his lips pressing against her forehead.
Alianna fought the words on the tip of her tongue, not wanting to ruin this moment between them. She wrapped an arm around him and pulled herself close to him in this too-small bed, closing her eyes, and drifting off as that bond between them soothed her racing mind.
Alianna opened her eyes and looked around in the dark. Rionan slept next to her, chest rising and falling slowly. The moonlight creeping in through her window gilded his skin, highlighting his Xanthian hue and making him glow like he had been kissed by the night.
The green light of the digital clock on her bedside cabinet cut through the dark around them: 03:12am.
She lay there, staring up at the ceiling, heart hammering with the thoughts that had awoken her.
Alianna thought of what tomorrow would bring. When Rionan would exit her life as quickly as he had entered it.
She hadn’t known him for long, but he had been like a whirlwind. Since she had found him on that beach, she had confessed her feelings of wanting to find some connection, something that mattered, and do more with her life than she was doing in Porthan.
