Chapter Twenty-Three
Fucking Snow
Alex
The wind howled like a living thing, whipping through the jagged peaks of the mountain and sending sheets of snow spiraling through the air; day four of this bullshit. Alex staggered forward, her breath coming in ragged gasps, each one a visible cloud in the freezing night. Her limbs ached, her fingers numb inside her soaked gloves. She could barely see a few feet in front of her, the snowstorm turning everything into a swirling void of white. The storm had come out of nowhere. She had hoped to make it to the base of the mountain before the weather turned for the season, but of course, that wasn’t her luck. She just had to keep pressing forward.
“Keep moving…I’ve just gotta keep moving”, she muttered through chattering teeth.
Her boots crunched through deep snow, sinking with everystep. She had lost the trail hours ago, if it had even been there at all. The storm had swallowed the path, burying it beneath an endless blanket of ice and wind. She hugged herself tighter, pulling her cloak around her like a shield, but the cold bit through the layers like needles against her raw skin.
A sudden gust slammed into her, knocking her off balance. She stumbled, her knee hitting a hidden rock beneath the snow. Pain flared up her leg, but she gritted her teeth and pushed herself back up, not bothering to dust off the snow matted to her. Blinking through the frost clinging to her eyelashes, Alex chattered, trying to calm herself, “Be the calm-the steady hands in the dark.” She let out a breath in a plume of white, taking a deep breath in, before exhaling again, repeating her mantra. Feeling steadier, she looked around, reorienting herself with her surroundings.
Darkness was beginning to fall, slowly creeping up and casting dark shadows all around her. If she didn’t find shelter soon…she refused to think about that.
She forced herself to move forward, squinting against the blizzard. Then—something. A shape in the distance, barely visible through the storm. A shadowy outline against the white.
A rock overhang? A cave? Hope surged through her, giving her enough strength to get through the now knee deep snow. As she drew closer, she saw a small crevice in the mountainside, just big enough to crawl into. Relief flooded her, and she fell to her knees, scrambling inside, praying that there wasn't a bear or something waiting to eat her. At this point, she was willing to fight whatever animal may be in there for the shelter and minuscule warmth and protection that it offered from the grueling wind.
The cave wasn’t very big, but would do nicely, especially if she could get a fire going. Shivering uncontrollably, she took in her surroundings. Surprisingly, there were some semi-dry grass,pine cones, and what looked like a pile of broken branches. Someone must have used this place as a shelter before. Hoping that the kindling was dry enough, she crawled over to the piles and began breaking the dead branches into smaller pieces, gathering it all together. This would do for a couple hours, but not the entire night. She would need to figure something else out for tomorrow but right now she desperately needed to get warm.
She pulled her pack over, digging through it until she found her flint. Striking it, she was able to get enough of a spark to light the kindling on fire. Dropping down, her face close to the ground, she blew on the little spark until it erupted into a flame. Heat rushed over her face instantly.
“Yes!” She shouted, a huge smile lighting her face. “Thank Anva!”
Alex curled against the icy stone wall, warming her hands, willing the cave to heat quickly. The shivers that wracked her body would not stop, and her jaw ached from her teeth clanging together. She needed a plan. But for now, she forced herself to breathe, just for a moment, as the storm continued to rage outside.
Warmth began to envelop her. Yawning, Alex curled up to sleep, if only for a little bit. Her body was so tired. Her fingers and toes tingled to the point of pain as they thawed out. Tonight would be a long night, tomorrow even longer but for now, rest. Yawning again, she laid her head down, and closing her eyes, she let sleep claim her.
“I am bound.
We cannot go on.
They will strip us of everything.
The banners are torn.
The realm will not stand for our life.”
“What if the life that is, the person that is, the love that is,
the mundane is brightened, the monotony broken,
the simple electrified, the touch vast in its depth,
with you, the life that is, the normal that is extraordinary.”
Rivka’s voice rang in that beautiful lilt Alex loved so damned much. She paused her reading as she noticed Alex staring. “What?” she asked with a laugh.
“Nothing, I just love watching your lips move over the words.”
It was early morning, just before dawn. These were the stolen moments she treasured, the moments where they forgot the pressures of the crown and the demands of the province. Rivka lay on her back; The Bound Queen held open above her. Alex lay on her side, propped up on her elbow, not really paying attention to the words but to the beautiful woman in front of her, so deeply enraptured by the story. Alex reached over and pressed her thumb to Rivka’s bottom lip, then slid her fingers under her chin, lifting ever so slightly so that Rivka could no longer read the words on the page.
“Although I am jealous that those words are holding your attention more than me.” She whispered into her ear, and thrilled at the gooseflesh that spread down Rivka’s arms. “I’m the one who’s supposed to make your heart beat faster, your skin flush, and your breaths turn to moans, not the ink marks on those pages.”
Rivka huffed and shut the book, placing it on the bed beside her, only feigning exasperation. “The words are his oath, his promise, to his queen that she is worth far more than her title, that even if they had nothing, no palace, no riches, no land or legacy, that she is his and he is hers, in all the ways that matter and none of those the realm deems vital.”
The hitch in her voice had Alex pausing, her lips against the side of her neck. A slow tear tracked from the corner of Rivka’s eye. “Riv,” Alex started, but Rivka stopped her with a kiss. Itstarted slow but turned demanding, like she needed to prove something, needed to say something but didn’t have the words to explain. Alex understood. They were bound too. Rivka to her crown, and Alex, her oath to the queen. ‘Normal that is extraordinary’ was impossible for them. They only had here and now, these stolen moments in the hours before dawn. They wrapped their arms around each other, grasping and clutching as if they would never let the other go. Eyes closed, letting sensation take over, passionate sounds fell from Rivka’s lips. “More. More. I need more. Tristan, please.”
