Fairies of The Black Circle

21

A happy humming followed Musa as she took the stone tunnel leading to the training room. She gazed about absentmindedly, the melody she was improvising echoing around her, her mind filled with one thing only.

It had been a week since she had found Gantlos in the graveyard, and each day since, they had painfully kept away from one another, pretending all was normal.

But at night, they found each other in secret, concealed by the dark sky, indulging in each other's presence.

"Hey, Muse." A voice, close by, broke her out of her trance.

"Oh hey, Riv, I didn't see you there." She smiled at him, though he looked at her as if she was deceiving him with faux kindness only to then snap.

"Listen, uh," he trod carefully, taken aback by her jovial mood, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. For everything. Like that fight last week was totally uncalled for I get it and I'm really trying to be better because-"

"It's okay. I forgive you. And I appreciate you saying it." She said cheerily and he didn't seem to register it as genuine.

"I'm trying because you deserve better, Musa. I know there's no hope for us now, but I still need you to know that you deserved better than who I was. You deserved better than the guy who trusted Darcy, who was cocky and rude, you deserved better than the guy who smashed your headphones." Riven tripped over his words, needing Musa to know how he felt.

"Riv-" she said, trying to sound as genuine as possible.

"And so, I wanted to give you these." He quickly shoved something into her hands.

Musa looked down, to find a sleek pair of black headphones. Her fingers traced over the glossy vinyl of the band and circled the soft cushion of the ear pads. Though they weren't her favourite cherry red, they were still beautiful.

"I know how much they meant to you and that the whole guardian fairy thing means you are always hearing everything at once and you can't find peace without them so I figured I should get you a new pair." He finished, finally taking a breath once he realised Musa was grinning at him.

"Thanks, Riven, they're lovely." She put them around her neck. He wondered why she didn't wear them properly but didn't question it.

"You ready, Riven?" Another voice called from the other end of the tunnel.

Musa spun round to find Helia waving at them.

"Oh, where are you guys going?" She asked.

"Roxy asked us to fetch Artu from the Fruity Music Bar and Riven just couldn't say no to her." Helia rolled his eyes and Musa threw him a judgmental glance.

"You haven't seen that kid's puppy eyes." He justified, though it sounded more to himself than anyone else.

"We gotta start walking if we want to meet Rick before sunset!" Helia urged.

"Yeah, I'm coming." He turned to look at her one more time. "I'll see you round, Muse."

"Yeah, see you."

He smiled and nodded at her as he caught up with Helia and she waved at the pair before they turned and walked away.

As they vanished around the bend of the tunnel, a hand closed around her wrist, and tugged her backwards.

She slammed against the stone wall, the sudden hard coldness on her bare skin making her gasp.

But before she could even close her mouth, Gantlos' lips were on hers.

He was kissing her. Passionately, aggressively, almost hungrily.

Ever since that night at the graveyard, she had been his. But not a soul knew, they intended to keep it that way, and seeing her around that jerk of an ex made his blood boil.