veiled hearts

sixteen

 "Theo..."

"I cannot help you. If I step any closer to him, he will sense my warmth, walk away," I couldn't take my eyes off of the animal.

"That is exactly what I need you to do! What in the world is this thing?" I seriously froze, I had never seen one of these, I did very much in fact never study wild animals, and I barely ever stepped out of the castle so...

"It's a Lynx-, do as I told you!" I might have been frightened, but this thing was beautiful, I can't argue with that. But as beautiful as it was, it looked just as dangerous.

I quickly closed my eyes, allowing myself to breathe in as deeply as I could.

"Good girl, now stretch your hand slightly forward." I followed.

The animal showed absolutely no desire to attack me, it stepped forward, I jolted back, and it seems like it noticed. Giving me a judging look.
Then it continued doing its thing, creeping closer to smell me.

"Now just wait, and if it-. Oh okay," I smiled. The huge cat walked in circles near my legs, rubbing its head against my knees.

I couldn't control myself and simply let out a giggle. I kneeled, the snow made my pants get wet, and soon enough, my hands were petting the cat. "What a sweet kitty." I grinned, turning to look at Theo.

"It's more of a tiger, but sure,"

I laid my hand over the Lynx's head, expecting to feel nothing more than fur, yet some sort of vibrating energy tickled my palm. "Oh wow, so you glow now!"

"Ice blue." I glanced at Theo, sensing some sort of aching sorrow coming from his tone. What was so deep about that colour?

"You sound sad...?"

"It's just that-. Doesn't matter. Maybe we should–"

"There's more," My eyes glistened. "Behind you," Many more creatures were approaching slowly, wolves, deer, lynxes, and glowing... fairies. "Dear gods," I breathed out. "I thought those were all children stories." I felt like I was dreaming. They all stayed further back, and then I felt the Lynx from before lay its paw over my leg, sort of calling my attention. I looked at it, then watched it walk towards the rest of the group. It stopped to look back. Was he asking me to follow him? Oh gods, he was.

So I did.

I followed the Lynx, its glowing fur guided me through the right path. It felt so innocent, so pure.

I walked past the creatures, finding myself deep inside the forest. And it was full of light.
Tips of trees lit up as I walked past them, everywhere I stepped on turned ice blue.
I was looking up at the trees, then down at the snow, I was so mesmerized that I barely noticed there was a stream right before me. I cursed under my breath as I felt myself fall down.

"Princess!" I heard Theodore call out, but he was too far away to help me. Yep, I was going down.

"Ahh, gods!" I muttered, right before closing my eyes, fully prepared to get all soaked. But it didn't happen.

I landed on ice, and yes, it hurt. But I at least wasn't soaked. I slowly opened my eyes, one after the other.
The lynx... it stood before me.

My eyes widened, my heart stopped beating, it really did.

My lungs expanded as my lips trembled, and I looked for the courage to allow my words to reach the surface. "Ice." I breathed out.

"Lyra!" I heard him speak, but I stood entirely frozen. His arms held onto me as he kneeled down to look into my eyes. "Princess, are you alright?" I saw fog leaving his lips as he spoke.