Hell's Angel

Chapter 41: Warmth Comes in Many Forms

SVETLANA

"Hello?" I call out as I stand at the entrance to the cave with the letter I wrote for Aella clutched in my hand, "Lyre?"

I step past the entrance to the cave and shiver as a cold wind blows into the cave, carrying snow with it.

"I have come to visit you if you are here. Afterward I must send this letter to Aella," I say as I walk around the entrance, "Lyre?"

I glance around and frown as I fail to spot him. I make my way down the stairs and continue to shiver from the long walk up the mountain. The temperature dropped severely as of recently, so I suppose I should not have climbed it, but I wished to see him. I sigh in defeat and sink against the cool wall before sliding down into the snow.

"I suppose I shall just wait," I sigh aloud and look at the letter sealed in the envelope in my hands.

I raise my gaze back up and find myself waiting for quite some time, getting colder and colder by the minute. Hours seem to pass before Lyre finally arrives at the entrance of the cave and as he spots my lying down on my side in the snow and shivering his eyes widen in surprise and he races over to me.

"Svetlana," He gasps and gathers me in his arms, "What were you doing here? You should've left when you noticed I wasn't home."

"I wanted to speak with you," I manage to say as I stare up at him tiredly and cling on to him.

He rushes to his bedroom and places me down on his bed. He leans over me and feels the side of my face, his eyes filling with worry.

"You're freezing," He frowns.

I continue to shiver as I stare up at him, my blue eyes searching his. He clenches his jaw and closes his eyes before stripping off his shirt and my eyes widen in surprise. He climbs over to me and places his shirt over my head and slides it down over top of my own. He then lies down next to me and pulls my body up against his own and wraps his arms around me. I bury my face in his chest and he continues to try and warm me up. After a few minutes he frowns and rolls us over so that he's lying on top of me.

"Lyre?" I whisper.

"You're still shivering..." His eyes flicker across my face and he frowns once more.

I frown and avert my gaze, feeling that he is disappointed in me, but he reaches down and gently turns my face back to his and before I can even register what is happening his lips are on mine. He kisses me gently and softly, as if afraid that he will harm me, and my eyes eventually flutter shut. He starts to kiss me in a more rough manner after a few moments and I can feel the heat rise to my cheeks even more.

"Sorry..." He says after pulling back with a slight blush on his face, "I'm trying to warm you up."

He bends back down to kiss me again and this time I kiss him back, which gains a slightly startled and slightly pleased noise from him. I thread my fingers through his hair and this time the kiss seems more natural and more emotional. His kissing seems to turn desirable and once he notices this he pulls away and stares at me with wide eyes, the blush on his face heavier than before.

"I...I um..." He stammers and moves away from me, "I should just um, go get you some hot chocolate...yeah..."

"Lyre?" I frown and watch as he runs out of the room before I sigh.

I look over to the nightstand and notice that he placed my letter there, although it's slightly wet from being in the snow.

"The closest place to get hot chocolate is in Siankenkii..." I mutter and sigh before crawling under the covers and wrapping the blankets around me, feeling warmer than I did before. I grab the letter from the nightstand and grab a pen from the drawer on the bottom half of the nightstand and I rip open the envelope before scribbling an extra note at the bottom.

"P.S.," I read aloud, "Lyre confuses me..."

I shove the letter back into the envelope and seal it back up before placing it on the nightstand. I sigh and hide back under the covers and whenever Lyre returns I find myself being shook awake.

"I got you some hot chocolate," He says and I open an eye lazily and look up at him.

He visibly gulps and I open my other eye and sit up before taking the mug of hot chocolate from him.

"Thank you..." I say and take a sip of it.

"Yeah," He smiles at me, but rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, "No problem."

His eyes drift over to the letter and I glance over at it before looking back at him.

"Do you need to have that mailed?" He asks.

"Yes, but I--"

"Okay, then don't worry about it," He says and goes over to pick up the letter before walking over to the entrance of the cave.

I lean to the side a little bit so that I can see him standing at the entrance through the doorway and to my surprise a white owl flies over to him and perches on his arm. He hands it the letter and it takes it in its beak. He pats it on the head before it flies off and I look down at my hot chocolate and watch as the shades of brown swirl around in it, along with the half-melted marshmallows.

"Yes," I murmur aloud, "He really does confuse me."