Show Me a Hero

Chapter I

There's fire in her eyes. Cold fire that sears my soul and singes my nerves. Just one glance from those gray eyes leaves me shivering and tingly all over, freezes my breath in my chest and sparks a raging inferno in the core of my very being. I feel like I'm drowning in flames when I'm with her.

"I've missed you," she whispers against my lips, forehead pressed to mine. Her skin is soft and cool, the complete antithesis to her almond-shaped pools of mercury.

"You saw me just yesterday," I point out, hands absentmindedly massaging her shoulders.

She hums, brushes her nose across mine. "Still missed you," she murmurs.

I missed you too, I don't say.

I've never said it.

I pull back, reaching up to softly trace the dark circles underneath her eyes with my thumbs. "These bags could carry in my groceries."

She just grins, turning her head to kiss the center of my palm. "Aw, shucks. You're making me blush."

A soft breeze comes passing through, blowing tendrils of her shock-white hair into her face. I tuck them back behind her ear, ignoring the dangerous warmth ballooning in my chest. "When was the last time you slept?"

"Don't worry 'bout me," she responds lightly, gently tugging my head down to rest in the crook of her neck like it belongs there. Sometimes, I think it does. "Once I get everything back home under control again, I promise I'll get some sleep, okay?"

"You better," I mutter, nuzzling her throat and inhaling that heady mixture of summer snow and jasmine tea.

"Your wish is my command, Your Highness."

I roll my eyes and thwack her shoulder. "I told you to stop calling me that."

"Your wish is my—" Another thwack, this time to the side of her head. "Okay, okay," she laughs, clear and melodious as silver bells on Christmas morning. "I'll stop. Knight's honor."

Then we lapse into silence, staring out at the dusky pink and muted golden rays of the setting sun reflecting off the surface of Lake T'lia. But it's a loud silence, the kind filled with the soundless sound of tender smiles and easy contentment.

I wish I could stay here forever, I don't say.

"I love you," she says.

I say nothing.

She presses a kiss to my temple then sighs. "It's almost time for you to go," she informs me sadly.

I blink, a heaviness blooming in my ribcage. "But-But I only just got here!"

She snorts delicately, right hand coming up to stroke my hair while the other glides down to rest lightly on my waist. "We've been standing here all night, love."

I don't want to leave, please don't make me leave.

She detaches herself from me, takes a step backwards into the lake, then another, and another. A coldness spreads from the lead weight in my stomach to my limbs and the very tips of my fingers, my toes.

"Until tomorrow," she promises, and those two words are the only things keeping the ice in my veins from freezing over my heart.

"Nylekae!" I call out before she's completely submerged in the lake, and she pauses, her eyes—those beautiful, terrifying eyes that hold such cold fire—the only part of her left visible above the surface of the water. "Nylekae—"