Shifting Sands - Feyd Rautha Harkonnen X OC

Chapter 2

When the Rain Falls

Night had fallen over the city and the shadows from towering walls stretched across the floors. Rain was fluttering through the sky and saturating the ground it fell upon, while the pools in the water gardens were glittering with the reflection of the moon. Beside the pools was a young, skinny boy with a bald head and grey-white skin. His legs were pulled up towards his chest and his eyes were focused solely on the splashing of the water in front of him. To the girl hiding in the shadows he looked at peace, that was until she noted the bruising on his neck that trailed up to his jaw. The pattern looked an awful lot like fingerprints.

Adhara decided to step out from the shadows and made her way to sit beside him, her legs eventually finding their home in the warm water of the pools. Nothing was said for what felt like hours, silence comforting the children which was occasionally interrupted with the pattering of the rain.

"Hi"

It was met with a solemn silence and a blank look from the young boy.

"My names Adhara"

Still unblinking the boys eyes trailed over the girl, absorbing her features and her body language. He was good at staying silent and understanding people from a slight movement of their hand or a flick of their eyes, but the girl's gentle gaze was something he had never encountered before.

"Feyd Rautha"

"Do you fight Feyd Rautha?"

Adhara knew she would be fighting the children of the Dukes and Barons but it wasn't up to her which child she would fight.

"No, my brother does"

Adhara wasn't surprised by the short response but it made the sinking feeling in her gut increase knowing that she would have to match against the brute that was the eldest Harkonnen. Her training master was much bigger than her and she knew how to use someone else's weight to her advantage, but the girl was only young and Glossu Raban had several years experience over her. Adhara's face must've morphed into some sort of frown which prompted Feyd Rautha to speak again.

"If you fight him, you don't have to worry. He always strikes first and he prefers his left side."

"Why would you tell me that?"

Why did he tell her that? He didn't know himself. The words just flowed out of his mouth and he made no attempt to stop them, not that he wanted to stop them. There was something about being sat next to the princess that made his heart feel slightly less cold. There was this voice in his head telling him that the girl sat next to him was important, that she would be important to him.

"You're going to need the help"

It wasn't the response she wanted but it was more than she expected. The interrupted silence that the children found themselves in earlier had returned and there was a heaviness in the air but it wasn't unbearable, it was more like a weighted blanket to provide comfort.

Feyd Rautha's eyes settled on the girl again, as they had done previously in the throne room. He noticed the freckles patterned across her cheeks like the stars in the sky above them, as well as the slight blue of her eyes. There was a dark ring around the outside of her pupils that cocooned the bright blue within a shadow of green. It was nothing like any other pair of eyes he had ever seen before; on Giede Prime the colours were barely more saturated than a black and white spectrum. Feyd Rautha had never seen a deep pool of water before he had arrived on Kaitain but he could only compare Adhara's eyes to the blue of the gardens in front of him, they were deep and held many secrets yet to look at, they were utterly ensnaring.

"You know, I don't know how you got those bruises on your neck, or who gave them to you, but if you want to get rid of them...I can sneak some medicine from the healers"

"And why would you do that for me?"

Feyd Rautha mocked her words from earlier, knowing that she was probably as lost for words as he had been.

"I'd want someone to do the same for me"

It was true, Adhara always sought a friend but with her status, the only children she would be allowed to socialise with on Kaitain with, was her sisters and apart from Irulan, they all irritated her beyond comprehension. There was a certain loneliness about being a princess, especially one that was expected to achieve greatness.

Adhara quirked an eyebrow in question to the boy, waiting an answer.

"Okay"

The girl jumped to her feet, wetting the previously dry ground she was sat on. Her hand stretched out to the older boy. Their eyes locked for several beats before his hands clasped over hers, being slightly larger than her own. A grin broke out on both their faces.

Slightly shorter than the last one but its here!!