Chapter Four
My scream pierced the night as we pitched into the darkness. My arms tightened around Grayson’s neck as his arms tightened against my waist.
"Katherine, it’s okay." Grayson said into my ear. Opening my eyes I looked up into his. My heartbeat quickened. He grinned. He could feel my heart.
Wait, if we didn’t fall to the ground….I looked away from Grayson to see we were high in the air. A little tiny house that must be the mansion was down below. Then I saw his wings. Two huge wings that were a smoldering gray/blue. Letting go of my hold on Grayson’s neck, I reached out and touched his wings. He was right. They were the softest thing I had ever touched. He shivered as I ran my fingers over his wings. I looked up at him and smiled, then ran my fingers over his wings again just to see him shiver.
"They’re beautiful." I whispered.
"Do you want to fly?" He asked, looking intently into my face.
I swallowed then nodded. Without a second of hesitation, Grayson dove into the night. The rush of falling thrilled and terrified me at the same time. I laughed and hugged my body to Grayson’s and he pulled me tight as well, his strong arms securing me to him. We twisted and turned flying high and low. I screamed in excitement and laughter. He flew us high into the night sky, the moon shone brightly. I lost my sense of being scared and could only think of Grayson. His smell intoxicated me. When Grayson flew back down to the balcony and set me on ground, I looked up at him, emotions flooding me. I suddenly had a hit of vertigo.
"Careful." Grayson said chuckling, bringing me to him. My hands clenched his upper arms in order not to fall. I felt his muscles ripple and I watched in amazement as his wings, too big to fit inside the room, retracted into his back. How could they do that? He smiled as he watched my reaction. "Come now." He said walking me to the room. I stumbled again and giggled. My skin was numb from the wind and I felt bubbly.
Grayson chuckled again. "You’re acting like you’ve had a glass too much of wine."
"I feel like it" I said giggling again.
"Its late, we should get to bed." He said direction me over to the dresser, careful of my hobbling. Before I knew what he was doing, he had unlaced the dress and corset. "I don’t know why woman wear these contraptions." He mumbled to himself. When that was off he turned to give me privacy and went into the bathroom. Slipping on the nightgown I walked to the bed now feeling tired as the numbness wore off. I didn’t even notice as Grayson slipped into the bed beside me.
I was rudely awakened by a woman in the morning. I’d been peacefully sleeping when she’d come into the room and pulled me out of bed, scolding me for sleeping so late. Startled, I’d looked around for Grayson, but he wasn’t in the room and then I looked at the woman. She had a medium build and was an inch or two shorter than me. Her golden brown hair was pulled back tightly into a bun with a few silver streaks in them, revealing her heart-shaped face. She had beautiful bright green eyes, filled with knowledge. I would guess she was in her late forties.
She started laughing at my bewildered expression. "I’m sorry dear for that rude awakening, but you have a very busy day ahead of you, and I’m sorry to say, but you missed breakfast. Annabeth forgot to come in and wake you. That girl can never remember anything."
"You need to be fitted for your ceremony dress and have a lot of people to meet and get to know today. Everyone’s eager to see Grayson’s beauty. My name is Eleanor. I will be your Advisor until the red moon. How is your ankle feeling dear, can you walk on it?"
Grayson’s beauty? What was she talking about? I barely knew the man and here she was saying I’d been claimed as his. I assumed everybody knew about the ‘wedding’, but a sudden rush of anger hit me, like a slap in the face. Last night seemed like a distant dream and I suddenly felt very foolish for letting myself act like that around him. I knew how you could get your heart broken and I didn’t intend to let that happen again. I’d seen the shambles Lily had been in. How dare he already claim me as his own. I didn’t want to get married, I was barley seventeen. I didn’t want to be here no matter how nicely furnished it was or how friendly the people were. I wanted to be back on the island where I could do what I pleased and spend my time talking with Lily. Why was this happening to me?
