Darkness carved in bone

Chapter 18

Helen

Helen stared into his pale green-blue eyes in the dark gloom that had appeared as the fire had vanquished. The only source of light was the moon that shone brightly in what had to be a cloudless night. Her heart was beating frantically in her chest, and her cheeks were painfully warm in response to his words. He didn't want her to die. He would feel pain if she died. And, perhaps most importantly, he had not saved her because of the control the dark queen had over him. He had saved her because he had chosen to do so. Strangely it felt like a heavy burden was lifted off her shoulders as she realized that. Probably, because that served to prove that his last statement was in fact true, that he was a part of the prophecy now. Not just a tool or marionette doing someone else's bidding, he was perhaps beginning to become his own person now.

Helen knew deep down that Ten was an equally important piece in the prophecies puzzle as her. However, he hadn't been able to give her a definitive answer if he was on the side of the prophecy or the dark ones' side. Even though a part of her could understand that she couldn't expect him to change his perspectives overnight, she was both a bit saddened and scared by his response.

But there had been such an intensity to his words, when he had said that he too was a part of the prophecy, that made her hope. Hope that something inside him was shifting. Even though the world had finally welcomed them back into it, that hope made Helen focus entirely on him, on Ten. He was all-consuming in this moment, nothing else existed except them. No matter what he hadn't been able to say, he had at least said in so many ways that they were together about this. Together.

Helen took a small step forward and it felt as if the world started gravitating toward him. She could feel her entire body leaning forward and reaching upward towards him as if there was nothing that would ever be close enough regarding him. A sudden yearning to end the distance between them and feel his skin on hers filled her.

Ten had never been more handsome and beautiful than he was in this moment. His corn blonde hair framed his face, as he drew it slightly back, and his features became enhanced in the silver light from the moon. The shadows in his face was darker than before, but the light in his eyes compensated for it all. He was strangely both light and darkness. He was her ending and her beginning.

Helen could see how Ten's breathing became calm and steady as he also inched closer to her. She could even feel the strange warmth that came off him and mix with her own. She almost forgot how to breath as their lips became dangerously close to touch. Her eyes became fixated on his perfect pink lips. She inhaled his breath, almost as if she could taste him in the air he exuded. The intoxication became almost unbearable, as he was a mix of the darkness she found so alluring, he was darkness, the moon and the stars, he was snow and fire.

The snow kept on twinkling lazily in the air around them as they were about to finally close the distance between them forever. Her heart banged in her chest, but the beating was steady and determined, nudging her forward, not telling her to step back and away from him. Her eyes flickered up to his, and she found the same anticipation that she knew was in her eyes. She let out a small whimper as her lips trembled just the slightest. He put a hand on her waist, the sensation of him that close, sent thousands of sparks across her skin. His fingers dug into her back, as he pushed her ever so slightly toward him.

But then a sound from the outside startled them both, and the moment was over.

Ten cleared his throat and took a step away from her with a look that suggested that he was both disappointed and bit nervous at the same time. He mumbled that he'd better go and check out what the sound was, and that he had to go and see if Shiny was all right. He was gone before Helen's mind started working again, she was still standing in the same spot, her body still leaning slightly forward. She inhaled deeply, her head feeling light, as if she had forgotten to breathe for a while.