Daughter of Water

Chapter 36

Arina POV

I was beginning to believe that I had been tricked. I had been here for maybe twenty minutes and already my mind was playing tricks on me. I couldn't believe just how much I could scare myself into believing that my love was all a game.

He will come Arina. Cello had told me that he never stops thinking about you. I blushed a deep crimson at the knowledge that my beloved thought of me so much that his steed brought it up.

I paced back and forth in the middle of the meadow, wringing my hands together enough that I could feel them going raw. I couldn't take it any more. What if something happened to him?

"Oh Aberdeen what am I going to do? I can't just stand here and do nothing. I can't take the nerves." A deep flap from overhead alerted me to the presence of a steed. For a moment, I thought that the king had found me and was ready to take me to my end but to my utter relief it was Darren atop Cello.

Tears filled my eyes as I took off for them, Aberdeen trotting behind me to where they landed just a few yards away. As soon as Darren dismounted, I jumped onto him, both of us falling to the ground with an umph. I kept my face in his chest, the tears I was crying of pure joy. Through everything, I heard his heart beat through his shirt and all I could think about was that he is here. He is mine. His heart belongs to me.

"I was beginning to worry you wouldn't come." He held me ever tighter and when I finally did look up at him, our lips connected in a powerful kiss that sent me over the edge. I could never be away from his man ever again. Never.

"I had to see a friend before I could come. He was almost hurt but he is safe now." I rolled off of him and we both sat up a bit, never taking our hands off of each other.

"Well I hope he is okay," I said but it was words I was putting out there to continue hearing his voice. I could not take the time we had been away. The pressures of being a Liquis in a world of Feirs was so enormous that I knew that if I had not met him that day in the forest next to where we are now, I would not be faring well. Too much would weigh on me from my people and I would probably have more wounds from the want and will to protect them.

"He is fine. He was saved. But none of that matters now. I am here with you and there is nothing else that needs to be said about the rest of the world." Ah he has no idea about the rest of the world. He has only seen Arina. I have seen the universe beyond this planet.

"I will tell you about the rest of the world later. For now, let's find shelter before nightfall." He beamed brightly at me and nodded his head. After a peck on the lips, we stood and approached our steeds.

"Aberdeen, Cello, please hold up the kingdom in our steads. It is not known just how long we will be gone or what will happen but you know that you can always have a connection to us that will allow you to find us. These necklaces," he pulled his from his shirt one similar to mine, "will be a direct link to us. If it is dire, please come get us but please allow for a few days for us to be alone." I held his hand tight in my own and confirmed my feelings about his words. Our steeds are us as they survive on us as well.

I will always be with you Arina. I always have, always will. Tears welled up in my eyes and I clung to the man who stole my heart.

"Thank you Aberdeen," I whispered and gave him a weak smile.

"I will do my best Cello," Darren said at my side. I guess she had said something as well. We gathered our bags from the backs of the steeds and gave them both the biggest embraces we could manage being so small compared to them.

"Are you ready Arina?" Darren asked me and extended his hand to me in offering. I took it with so much energy that I had to calm myself down for the happiness in me was overflowing. With little more than a few steps away from our steeds, their whinnies started. They started out small but as we grew farther and farther away, it was as if they were calling to us. It was if they were telling us to be safe, to love while we could, and to live the way we want in the time we have.

When I looked back over my shoulder, both steeds were reared up on their hind legs and were shouting into the air their wishes and promises. And as we walked into the forest on the other side of the meadow where I had never ventured before, I realized with a start that this was my first step to adventure, love, and true happiness.