The Nightingale

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Natasha's hand dropped from the handle of her sword and the metal slipped back into place, swinging against her leg as she crossed the small space between the doorway and the man standing in front of the long wooden table sitting at the center of the space. When she reached him, barely three long strides, crashed into him and threw her arms around his neck. Her collision against him caused him to lean backwards, but his feet stayed planted firmly on the ground as he wrapped his arms around her back, gripping her so tightly that her feet lifted off the ground until only her toes were barely brushing against the dirt floor beneath her.

"Hey there, little rebel." Natasha pulled herself away from Ky as he spoke, looking up at the tired, but content, look in his dark eyes.

"I- I don't understand," was all she could manage, her eyes rapidly scanning over his face, taking in his appearance. He looked the same has he had a year ago, before he disappeared, only his curly black hair was longer, his eyes seemed more sunken into his cheekbones, one of which was marred by a thin, fading pink line, as if he hadn't slept properly in a long time, and his nose was a little more crooked than she remembered. His eyes, almost the same color as his pupils, still shone as he looked down at her, matching the black of his thick eyelashes, standing out against his light brown skin. His arms, just as sturdy as she remembered, enveloped her again as she leaned into him once more, holding him tightly. She felt his chest rumble against hers as he chuckled lightly, and the sound snapped her back to the reality around them and the dozens of questions she had buzzing through her mind.

"How are you here? How are you alive?" She stepped back from him again, this time trailing her eyes across his frame. At the surface, he looked uninjured, except for the fading scar across his cheekbone and a second she noticed now along the hairline of the right side of his face, almost hidden now that his hair was longer and the curls dropped down his forehead. However, there was no way to know if any more marks were hidden underneath the black pants, shirt, and jacket he had on.

"Your father let me go."

This time, Natasha laughed, loud and incredulous, shaking her head at the man in front of her. "Seriously, Ky."

"I am serious, Natasha," Ky stressed, and Natasha stiffened as he looked at his, his body stiff and his eyes intense and he looked at her. "You don't know what actually happened after I sent you down that tunnel."

"Then enlighten me," Natasha replied bitterly, crossing her arms over her chest as she recalled the night she fled her village. "Tell me why my father would spare you, when he seemed so intent at doing everything in his power to kill me." A hot, uncomfortable feeling swirled in her stomach as she thought of the last words she heard her father speak for the first time in a long time, how he disowned her in the moments before his death, and she couldn't fathom why Ky seemed to be so intent on defending her father.

"He wasn't going to kill, you, Natasha," Ky said defiantly, looking at with such a fierce desire for her to believe him. Natasha rolled her eyes, resisting the urge to scoff again as she turned away from Ky, running her hand through her hair to shake it from the loose braid she had wound it in as she traveled here.

"Natasha-"

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Ky! You don't know what happened after you sent me down that tunnel! You have no idea!" She whirled around to face him. "My father stood on that beach outside our home and raised his sword to me, he lunged at me, he looked me in the eyes and said that he no longer had a daughter! He caused the deaths of everyone he forced to fight for him in an attempt to get to me. Don't you dare tell me that my father had any other intention then to end my life that night." She had strode towards him again, closing the space between them as she bared her final words between her teeth, her finger pointed angrily at Ky's chest.