Checkmate

Counterattack

He was radiating anger, his chest heaving above mine, his face chiselled stone, a nerve working in his jaw, but it was his eyes, always his eyes, that spoke volumes.

They were almost clear emerald, the greenest I'd ever seen them. 

For a long moment, we stared at each other.

And then I moved - or tried to. It was like pushing a rock. His grip was hard on my wrists, his body trapping mine, and he showed no signs of letting me go, despite my efforts.

"Answer me." He said, his voice deeper than it usually was.

"Release me." I responded, as calmly as I could muster, but his proximity, his body on mine had my heart rate amping up, beating erratically, and I was sure he could feel it, because his grip tightened and his jaw clenched in reaction. 

He didn't move for what felt like a long time, but I waited and eventually, his grip on my wrists slackened and he lifted himself off me. 

I took a deep breath, trying to steady myself, my body and my wildly disoriented feelings, and then slowly eased myself up on my elbows, getting to my feet gingerly, wincing as I did so, feeling the ache in my thigh and massaging it with one hand while adjusting my tunic, which had ridden up in the tussle, with the other.

He'd been watching me and suddenly reached out to stop me, grabbing the hand that was on my tunic and stepping closer. He lifted the tunic back up, exposing my back - and his expression hardened even further.

"That's a burn." He said, stonily.

I said nothing, yanking my hand from him, pulling my tunic down again and tightening the belt.

"You got caught when the border defences went up." 

I didn't respond to that, partly because I didn't think it a good idea to go down that path and partly because I was too busy drinking in the sight of him.

I hadn't seen him for months, the last time had been just before Ri had left the Clan - and shortly before he'd started spending more time away from his Clan. To say he'd changed would be putting it mildly. 

It had been obvious from our tussle that his body had undergone change - he was leaner than he'd been, but it was all muscle and he was stronger, so much stronger. His face was leaner too, more angular and defined, his silver-white hair long enough now to touch his shoulders, some of it tied in a thin braid behind his head. The overall effect was edgier, more ethereal, more remote, more breathtaking - and more dangerous.

Something I was acutely aware of at that moment, with his full focus locked on me.

I tried to speak as normally as I could, trying not to let that focus affect me, trying not to let my emotions - shame, regret, remorse, all of which had burst to life at seeing him - affect me. Now was not the time. 

"You got Soriah's message." I said, although it didn't make sense. How had he gotten here so quickly? The message would only have reached Vargas a week or so ago, and it would take at least two or three to get here, even at full speed.

But he wasn't about to be deflected.

"How did you get hurt?" He asked, through gritted teeth. 

"I'm fine." I replied, calmly, but it seemed to have the opposite effect on him.

"How." 

"Yes, alright. The border defences went up as I was leaving." I answered briefly. He knew I wasn't telling him everything, he was watching me closely, but I didn't say anything more. I glanced at the sky. It was getting darker and my window was narrowing. I needed to move soon. The worst possible time for him to show up.