Wild Wars

23

In dreams, I surrender
~
Cadence
~

Calmness washed over her. A calmness she hadn't felt in a long time.

His face was boyishly sculpted, handsomely perfect. His light brown hair was untidy and his amber eyes spun with a newfound charm. He was everything and more.

A gift Cadence didn't feel deserving of.

But she couldn't ever think of returning him.

Rexton rose from the gravestone he sat upon and a wash of black gushed down as he straightened his coat. 

"I hope you don't mind," Rexton said softly and gestured to the weapon in Cadence's hand. "I gave you a sword in case you needed to feel protected—"

The sword fell from her hand and whatever distance they had, closed.

Cadence's arms wrapped around Rexton and she buried her face into his neck, hiding whatever emotion tore through her face. Shock, relief — acceptance.

She didn't need to feel protected with him at her side. 

Slowly, two arms secured around her back and gripped her tightly and soon, Rexton's face found the crook of her neck, his nose inhaling sharply.

Patting him lightly on the back, Cadence pulled back and peered up at him, narrowing her eyes.

Then she nodded rapidly and smiled. A smile that came close to bringing tears. "It's good to see you,"

Rexton tilted his head, gaze twinkling. "That's it?"

Cadence scanned him and clapped him gently across the cheek, skimming her fingers on the smoothness of his skin. He was dressed in all black, the darkness of the attire washing out his skin and exuding a ghostly paleness.

"I'm dreaming," Cadence concluded with a frown.

Rexton nodded in response. "You are. I wanted to give you comfort in the dream."

Cadence looked around them with cautious, raised brows. "But we're in a cemetery."

"Where only the dead can hear us," Rexton chimed lightly.

She could get behind that, but could Rexton? This wasn't exactly his forte. He trembled when it came to the certain ringers of death and the dead. It didn't bode well for him.

"It's just you and me?"

"You and I," Rexton said and a moment of silence lingered, slicing between them. He hastily rushed out, "I'm sorry with how we ended things, Cadence."

Cadence swallowed apprehensively. Back there, within the walls of that hellish place, after he handed himself to Adriana, to the blood, he had become so ... cold. Withdrawn.

It wasn't him.

Cadence shrugged carelessly and waved him off. "That doesn't matter now, what matters is that you're here. You're coming back, right?"

Rexton tilted his head, a softness in his face. "I can't break the deal,"

"You could," Cadence commented, the depths of her throat swelling. You could break her and be done with it.

Rexton didn't respond and waltzed around the empty cemetery, his dress shoes mushing into the fine soil of the place before he sat on a gravestone.

"I've been trying to reach you for days, but you sleep inconsistently and I've only recently been able to hone in these skills to contact you," Rexton murmured.