The Dragon Princess

Chapter 17

William Owin

Unknown

It is the darkness that calls out to me the most. It is the feeling of standing, in the darkest of nights, at the edge of a cliff, which you can't see the bottom of, and being tempted to jump. I have walked this dream a thousand times, and everything is the same, except for one detail. It is not me that is about to fall. With my hand wrapped around her throat, extended beyond the edge, Josie pleads with me. The most terrifying detail about the dream isn't that she is hanging over the edge or even by my hand, but rather the thoughts even in my dream mind. It tells me to drop her, like the orders I used to receive that I had no control of. I watch in horror as my fingers release her and she falls into the darkness.

It is my screaming, I think, that awakens me. Or so I thought. As my eyes open in to the night sky, it is her worried gaze I look up into. Her bright blue eyes are almost luminescent in the glow of the stars and moonlight. I register her hands on my face in a comforting way and I surrender to her will. "Do you want to tell me what the nightmare was about?" She asks, pulling my head down into her lap as I cling to her. I shake my head no. It would terrify her to know my dream consist of killing her. I had gotten used to the old dreams. I was immune to them, but not now. "Alright. You don't have to tell me just now." I can hear what she is implying; not now, but later. "Where do we go from here William? Or do you want me to call you Jack?"

I sit back up and look at her, seeing the uncertainty in her eyes and the embarrassment at not knowing to which I preferred. "Jack Merthin is a person I never want to be again. I am no longer the weak boy William Owin who fell in love with his best friend." I crack a smile and her gaze softens. She knows. Maybe she has always known how I felt, which is why my "death" hit her so hard. "I want you to call me William, in the hopes that I can be the boy that grew into the man that deserves you. You can even call me Willie if you want, like you used to when we were kids." A smile comes to her lips and I know she is remembering us as children, running up and down the corridors of her family's castle, weaving in and out of busy servants. I was always chasing after her as a child, but in the last several years she has been chasing me. Now, neither is chasing the other, but rather we walk at the same pace, hand in hand, as it always should have been.

"Alright, Willie." She agrees, testing out the long ago use of my nickname. "Willie and Josie together again. Look out world." She laughs and it that small sound tugs at my heart.

"The world will have to wait a bit longer." I say and her head tilts slightly, not understanding my meaning. "First, we are going to make peace with your brother." She starts to object, but I stop her. "No, this is important to you, whether you admit it or not. Yes, you brother my run me off again, but at least this time, you will be coming with me."

Slowly she nods in agreement, but I can tell a thought has entered her mind. "There is something I want to do first, before we go see my family." I ask her what it is, knowing at this point I will do anything for her. "I want to marry you William Owin."

For a moment all I can do is stare at her, open-mouthed in surprise. This causes her to let out another giggle. Doubt starts to fill my mind for a moment. "Josie, if you only want to get married to stop your brother from separating us..."

It is her turn to stop me. "No. Nothing Felix can do is going to keep me from you anymore. This I want for me, and for you and for us. I want us to be together." I can feel her warm hand come to rest against the side of my face, and that same intoxicating feeling of her touch washes over me once again. "When I was little, just after I lost you, I was so lost and alone. Felix was always there for me, until he got kidnapped, but it was Marina who got through to me. It is her words that have always been in my mind, perhaps even keeping me going all these years. She told me once "It may not seem like it now, and it may not be today, or tomorrow, or even years from now but one day there will be someone who pulls you out of your sadness. He will be there to catch you when you fall, Josie. I promise you that." She was right. You were there that night, sitting up in that dumb tree watching me, and you never left. You were there for me in ways that no one else ever was. You believed in me like no one else. You started the fire in me again. I could see it then and I could see it when you pulled me out of that lake. You are what keeps my heart beating, and always have been. Marry me, William."