Wings of Arian (19 page)

He just smiled at her. “You didn’t look like you were dying. You looked like you were concentrating, besides, you said not to talk.”

“Oohhh!” Kiora picked up a pillow and threw it at him. Looking around she scowled, “I don’t understand, why didn’t I know they were here?” She examined the pile. “Did I get everything?”

“More than everything, you got the blankets, the pillows, the sheets. I even think you got the down filler.” He pulled through the pile, “Yep here it is.”

She started pulling through one blanket at a time.

“What are you doing?”

“Counting.”

“Counting? Why?”

She didn’t answer him until she had finished pulling through the entire pile. Sitting back on her heels she looked at him. “Eleven.”

“What?””There are eleven blankets here.”

“So?””So! No wonder I thought I was going to die. I was trying to summon a blanket that wasn’t even there. That’s why I didn’t know they were here. At least I think that’s why.”

Emane started laughing.

“It’s not funny!”

“Yes, yes it is... very funny.” His laugh was echoing around the cave. Kiora had never heard him so happy before. She couldn’t help but smile.

“Alright, let’s get this thing set up.” She tried not to let Emane see her smiling but it was hard to hide.

Emane got up, still laughing and started to pull the blankets off to get to the down filler. It was so thick and comfortable she might as well have summoned the whole bed. Emane put it down and Kiora started tucking a sheet around the outside. Emane then took another blanket and set it on the floor across from the down filler.

“What are you doing?”

“Making my bed.”

“You can’t sleep with one little blanket, when we have got this luxurious thing!”

“Sure I can, you can take that.”

Kiora looked back and forth between the down filler and his sad pile of blankets. “No, Emane, this is ridiculous. This thing is huge— we can share.”

“Kiora, I couldn’t.”

“Stop it, Emane. I appreciate you being chivalrous but you can sleep on one side and I will sleep on the other. We could even roll a blanket down the middle, if it would make you feel better.”

“I will be fine over here on the floor.”

“No you won’t, because you are sleeping over here. I can’t have you trying to defend me with a knot in your shoulder can I.”

Emane rolled his eyes, again. “Alright, fine. But I am warning you— I kick.”

“That’s alright, I bite.” Emane stared at her. Kiora broke into laughter, “I am just kidding Emane” She set another blanket down on top of the down filler. “Oh, you should have seen your face.”

“Very funny.”

Working together, they got the mattress put together. They settled into the bed, pillows situated on opposite sides of the mattress.

“Alright, Emane, I have summoned food, blankets and the bed is made. A deal is a deal, it’s your turn to talk.”

“A prince always lives up to his word. What do you want to know?”

“You said your problem was not, ‘exactly with me.’ What did you mean by that?”

“Oh wow, getting right to meat of things aren’t we? Umm, I choose to pass for now and come back to that later.””

She leaned up on her elbows and glared at him, “You pass?”

“Look Kiora, that needs more explanation. How about you start with something else and we will probably come back around to it. Actually, I am sure we will because I am not lucky enough for it to go away.” He grinned at the ceiling, choosing not to return the stare she was giving him.

Kiora was distracted by his playful grin. He was always handsome, but with that sheepish grin plastered on his face he was gorgeous.

“Alright then, you said that things weren’t all that great before you came. Why not?”

Emane sighed. “Seems like a logical place to start. Well, let’s see if I can sum it up. I was born ‘Prince’, which everyone thinks is great, and in some aspects it is. I have been raised to lead, to have the lives and destinies of thousands of people placed upon my shoulders. I never really asked for that. I never really asked for a lot of things,” he added his voice suddenly distant. “And then there is the matter of marriage.”

Kiora’s heart fluttered, “Marriage?” She spoke it entirely too eagerly and fought the urge to smack herself.
What is wrong with me?

If Emane had noticed it, he didn’t let on that he had. “As the only son of my father, I am required, of course, to take the throne and to ensure the royal line continues, through marriage.”

It hit Kiora what he was talking about. “Arranged marriage?” How had she not known that a match had been picked for the Prince? Surely her sister would have mentioned something like that.

“Yes, arranged marriage.” He shook his head. “And she is, she is… well she is awful.”

“That bad?”

Emane nodded. “That bad.”

Kiora was quiet for a second. Her emotions were mixed. She felt sadness that he had been promised, and hope that Emane thought his proposed bride was awful.

“Is she not…. attractive?”

“Oh, she is very attractive.”

“What?” Kiora’s emotions stretched in confusion, and Emane just kept on tugging.

“She is one of the most beautiful girls I have ever laid eyes on. She is stunning. Her hair, her face. And then there is her body, oh wow!” he said, putting his arm casually behind his head.

Kiora interrupted the dissertation, “I got it,” she said flatly. A mental picture flashed in her mind of a girl she had met once. Blonde hair and big brown eyes, she was beautiful enough that Kiora had found herself staring. She really hoped for some reason that it wasn’t her.

“Sorry, I got carried away?”

“Yes you did. So, if she was so gorgeous, then what is wrong with her?”

“She is gorgeous, until she opens her mouth,” Emane groaned.

“You didn’t like her teeth?”

“Her teeth? What?” Emane rolled his eyes. “No, Kiora her teeth were fine. Perfect actually.”

“Yes I know. Perfect like the rest of her,” she said under her breath.

“Her personality. She is mean, and cold and conceited and careless and selfish.” He stopped and turned to look at Kiora. “I notice you are not asking me to stop on this list…”

Kiora was suddenly very interested in a tie on the blanket, twirling it around between her fingers. “Do you have to marry her anyway?”

Emane’s head turned abruptly back to the ceiling, his jaw working. “My father,” he ventured slowly, “would say the answer is yes.”

“What about you?” she asked glancing up at him, “Don’t you get a choice?”

His head whipped back to look at her with an expression she could not read. “It is part of the royal responsibilities, or so I am told.”

“Oh.”

“No.” he said quietly She looked at him, confused before he sat up, his eyes bright with a sudden intensity. “No,” he repeated, “I won’t marry her.” A smile crept across his face, flopping back down with a great sigh of relief he chuckled. “No.”

“What will your father say?”

Emane hesitated, his smile faltering momentarily before rolling his eyes. “He will say a lot, he always does.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you roll your eyes? A lot!” Kiora said, laughing.

“Yes. Aleric is very fond of telling me how often I do that.”

“Aleric was your teacher?”

“He tried to be.”

“Was he not very good?”

Emane laughed, shaking his head. “The questions you ask. No, he’s fantastic. I have not been the ideal student. I found history and learning about ancient crafts terribly boring and a waste of my time. I would have much rather been out practicing my combat skills than listening to him go on about things I didn’t feel mattered.” He looked into her eyes and Kiora could see sadness and confusion. “Funny isn’t it, that the things I thought mattered are proving to be rather useless, and the things I thought I didn’t need to know are now of grave importance?” Emane took a deep breath. “Alright. Your turn.” Kiora tried to object, but Emane cut her off. “I didn’t say I was done talking, but I need a break. I told you I wasn’t very good at this.”

“You seem to be doing a good job to me.”

He flashed a grin at her that melted her heart. “I am doing great aren’t I? I don’t think I have ever talked so much to anybody in my whole life.”

Sadly enough, Kiora completely understood. It had been a long time since she had truly opened up to anybody. She sat up, pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Maybe if she were in as tight of ball as possible she wouldn’t feel so vulnerable. “What do you want to know?”

“When did you know you could do magic?”

Of course it would be that question. “That depends. What kind of magic do you mean?” “Any kind.”

Taking a stuttering breath she told him, “I started having visions when I was a little girl.” “What kind of visions?”

She squeezed herself even tighter. Talking about this made her feel like she was that little girl all over again, that she was doing something wrong. “Visions about the future, about things that would happen.”

“I thought those were rare.”

She thought about it. “You’re right, they are. At least that is what the book said.”
Seeing the future was worse than the past
she thought.
Seeing the future made you think you had a chance at changing it.

“Eleana’s right, you are extraordinary.”

“Oh shut up! I get so tired of hearing that.”

“You get tired of hearing that you’re extraordinary?”

“Yes, because then I feel like I have to
be
extraordinary or I will end up disappointing everyone.” And because I’m not, she thought.

He sat up on his elbow looking at her intently. His gaze flickered from her face, to her lips and back again. She looked away nervously, unable to hold his gaze.

“You are the most interesting girl I have ever met,” he said. Flopping back onto his back again, he asked, “Back to the visions. What happened when you would have them?”

Picking at the blanket she answered, “The same thing that you saw. I would black out, see things and then I would come to.”

Emane sat straight up, “That’s it? I have been pouring my heart out to you and that’s the best you can do?”

Kiora put her head on her knees and squeezed herself as tightly as she could. “This is hard.” She flinched at how whiny she sounded.

He scooted closer to her and Kiora felt her breath catch in her throat as he placed his hand on top of hers. “It’s alright, you can trust me.”

Closing her eyes a tear trickled down her cheek, she wanted to trust him. She wanted him close, to feel him next to her. “I would usually see bad things that were going to happen to people. One time I saw our neighbor’s fields catch on fire. I told my parents, but I was so young. I think I was only eight. At first they didn’t believe me. But then after it happened my parents were terrified, they kept me home as much as possible. I wasn’t allowed to go into the village. A tear slid done her cheeks. “They became so afraid of me. My sister would tell them when I had blacked out and they would push me to tell them if I had had another vision. I started lying to them— I didn’t want to scare them. I didn’t understand what was going on either.”

“How are your parents handling it now?”

Kiora choked on a sob turning away, immediately missing the proximity of him to her. “My parents are dead. They were killed in a landslide on their way into the village.”

Emane was quiet for a while. ‘You knew it was going to happen didn’t you?”

Kiora nodded and shuddered. “I didn’t know what to do. I had been lying to them for a couple of years and I was so scared to tell them.” She hadn’t told anyone this, ever. The thought of others looking at her like her sister looked at her had kept her quiet. Too scared to look at Emane’s face, Kiora buried her head further into her arms. “I decided that I had to, that to save their lives I would deal with whatever consequences would come.” She choked on the words, breaking into sobs.

“That’s what we saw in the wings wasn’t it?” he said softly. “You were crying as your parents drove away.”

She moaned rolling in on herself— then his arms were wrapping around her, pulling her back into him. He didn’t hate her. Her heart leapt forward. Turning towards him, she buried her face in his chest.

“It’s ok Kiora, it’s ok,” he murmured, his lips brushing against her ear and then against her cheek.

Kiora thought she was going to explode, feeling all of the grief over her parents’ deaths. Grief that she never really allowed herself to feel, not with Layla watching. And now, the feel of Emane’s arms holding her and the softness off his lips. Beyond that, the gentleness of his voice was sending chills up and down her spine.

“It’s ok Kiora,” he said resting his nose against her cheek. “Tell me what happened.”

“I told them what I had seen… they… they were… so angry. They thought I just didn’t want them to go into the village without me. I had never… seen them…. so angry.” Kiora took deep breaths trying to calm herself down. “They got into the wagon to leave. I didn’t know what else to do so I stood in front of the horses so that they couldn’t go. My sister had to drag me out of the way so they could pass. I fell into the road screaming for them not to go.” Kiora pulled her head up, reaching to wipe away her tears. Emane gently grabbed her hand pushing it back down before he reached up himself, running his finger down her check, first one and then the other. His fingers left little trails of fire that were quickly lost in the heat of her blush.

“Then what happened?” he whispered, his eyes level with hers. They were darker blue than she remembered them being.

She kept her eyes locked on his gathering strength from his support. “When they didn’t come home that night, my sister flew into a rage. She told me that it was all my fault that our parents were dead— that I had caused the accident. That if I had never been born our parents would still be alive.”

“It wasn’t your fault, Kiora.”

She tore he eyes away, swallowing. “My visions terrified me, even more after that. I didn’t want to talk to anyone about what had happened, I didn’t want to see anyone. My sister didn’t want anyone to see me either, she would go into town if we needed anything.” She sighed. “My sister and I were never the same. We lived together more as roommates than as family. She still blames me.”