Of Spinning Gold and Song

| Twenty | The Kiss

I had flown before. I had ridden the wind and the air and the sky, experienced the feeling of weightlessness and freedom, thought I could do anything and have anything and have everything my way. I thought that was the best feeling in the world, that nothing could ever top it.

I was wrong.

This was better.

I melted into his embrace, feeling his warm lips on mine. He tasted like the woods, the pine trees that framed our village and the sap we used to eat from the maple trees, the wooded smell that always comforted me and reminded me of home. A burning fire was searing through me, from the tips of my toes right up to my lips pressed against his until I thought I would maybe just burst from happiness.

One of his arms was wrapped around my body, pulling us together, the other was buried deep in my hair. I threaded my arms around his neck, needing to get closer. His lips were moving against mine as he mumbled my name slowly.

If I lived to be 100, I would never forget this moment. I would forget everything else in my life, but nothing was important, everything I had ever been through had been leading up to this moment.

This was real. This was where I belonged. This was home.

It could have been a moment or a minute, an hour or an eternity, I didn't know and I didn't care until we finally had to break away for breath.

"I'm in love with you Sparrow," he said huskily, his eyes looking down on me tenderly as though I was the most precious thing in the world. As though I hadn't spun the gold, but I was the gold.

"I've loved you since forever," he continued. "You have no idea how long I've wanted to kiss you. I love your spirit, your passion, your strength. You're the most powerful girl I've ever known, yet the kindest at the same time. What other girl would risk a dragon's wrath? You're one of a kind and I love you for it.

"I love the way you pick at your fingers when you get nervous. The way you cock your head more to the right when you're listening. The way you shift your weight from right to left and back again when you've been standing still for a long time. The beauty in your face when you sing, like you're riding the best high in the world. The first time I saw you when we were just kids I thought you were pretty. I was wrong: you're gorgeous."

I was speechless. My emotions were a boiling mess and I didn't know what to say, what to think. Luckily I was saved from having to make a choice by his lips on mine again.

I had never felt this way before. And yet, I had never been living before. This, this was life. I had never felt like this before, not with Rosie or Mam or Pap or Augustin or—

With a cry, I pushed him away from me, darting backwards as back as reality came flooding back.

Augustin. My cheeks colored, equal parts embarrassment, shame, and anger. Anger with Bradyn, for kissing me like that, anger with myself for liking it.

Augustin was my beau, not Bradyn. Augustin was the one who had gone to slay a dragon for me. He was the one who had taken me in in his family home, the one who protected me, the one who had hinted at marrying me. Bradyn was just the friend, the boy who was practically my brother to hang out with. I had never even thought of him as a potential lover before.

But now I was starting to wish I had.

That thought flooded me with more shame and I took two steps back, wrapping my arms around myself like a shield. Although I was certain it wouldn't help shield me from my rebellious inner thoughts—nothing could. My lips were still tingling and before I did something else I would regret, I turned away, sinking to the ground in a ball and trying to sort out my churning thoughts.