When Angels Sin

21. A Beautiful Angel

Julian

It was cold and bleak for a summer afternoon. Julian stayed indoors, gently petting Alexandra as she fed in her stall.

"Good girl," he whispered as he stroked her silver wings and silver mane, glad that she had finally calmed down. She had been fidgeting nervously all day, as the guests who came for Mikal's engagement kept arriving one after another with their Pegasi since the morning. Alexandra was not very sociable, and finding herself suddenly surrounded by a crowd of strangers pushed her beyond her level of comfort. So Julian had taken her to feed inside her stall.

Julian gasped as Alexandra nudged him playfully, and he could only chuckle in response as he ruffled her mane. 

"She must love you so much, doesn't she?"

Julian turned in surprise at the unexpected sweet voice and his heart thumped as he found Alina standing inside the stables. He wondered what she was doing here, leaving the celebrations and coming to the stables.

"My Lady," he barely spoke as his eyes fell on her small form which was wrapped in delicate sky blue chiffon and lace. She looked so heavenly. But strangely, there was a deep sadness in her eyes, and he could tell they were shining with unshed tears. Julian wondered what could upset her so much on such a day.

"Can I pet her too?" Alina asked with a bittersweet smile as she approached him, and Julian only stepped aside so she could reach Alexandra. "She is beautiful," Alina said, almost whispering, as she smoothed her mane.

You are beautiful. Julian wanted to tell her. He wanted to smooth his hand over her soft hair. He blushed at the mere thought and turned his face away. What the hell am I thinking?

"Her name is Alexandra," Julian said quickly, trying to overcome his nervousness. "She is Mikal's."

"Mikal's..." Alina whispered as she continued to stroke the silver mare, and her eyes shone further with suppressed tears.

"She has been nervous since morning, because of all of the Pegasi that kept arriving with the guests today," he continued talking about Alexandra, not knowing what else to say, and wondering where this awkward conversation would take them, but he needed to speak lest Alina found him boring. "She's not used to strangers, you see. So finding all these Pegasi around her all of a sudden made her too uncomfortable. That's why I took her inside here, to calm her down." Julian realized that he had probably already bored Alina with his blabbering nonsense.

"You seem to understand Pegasi quite well," Alina smiled. "Although I didn't get that impression the first time I met you. You seemed like someone who had no idea what he was doing."

She was right about that. But of course, because that time he found a terribly beautiful girl suddenly charging his way, unsettling his whole being with her sparkling honey eyes, and causing his heart to race and his hands to tremble. Even Achilles had sensed his nervousness and took off kicking at once.

"You didn't seem quite the nice girl the first time I met you too," he smirked playfully.

"Well, I am still not as nice as you think," she played back.

"So should I be scared?"

"Yes I am very scary!" Alina teased, and Julian couldn't help but chuckle. "So, how long have you been in this castle, Julian?" she asked.

"Since I was nine."

"That's quite a long time! How did you even become a slave?" she asked further. But this was not the direction he wished for their conversation to take.

"I was sold to the slaver."

"Of course you were! I mean how? Who sold you?"

"My... my father did," he answered reluctantly.