That night, I'm back in a cell.
Bodies are slowly piling up inside it pushing me further and further back against the cold, stone wall until I can't breathe. I'm gasping desperately, but each breath is filled with the stench and taste of death. My eyes shut so I don't have to look at their gaping mouths and glassy eyes. Stiff hands poke and slide all over me before starting to grab and tug. When I open my eyes the bodies have been replaced by guards. Torches surround the cell so nothing is hidden as they rip off my clothes and tug my body this way and that as I cry for help, scream, thrash.
"Kaira, Kaira, Kaira." My name rings in my ears like a chant as I jerk straight up in my bed. Bile swirls in my stomach and I burst into the bathroom to empty my stomach. The tub I've thankfully covered again, so at least I don't have to look at that. "Kaira, are you alright?" The voice speaks again and I realize it's Azriel over the bond. I make sure my mind is blocked and ignore him as I empty more of myself into the basin.
Once I'm done, my body is shaking as if I'd been out in the snow. Even my wings shiver as they drag on the floor behind me. Fire, I need fire. Shadows lengthen around me before I grab on and vanish, then reappear down the hall in a small sitting room. It takes me a moment to recognize it as the place where Mor and I first spent time together. A fire flickers lazily in the fireplace and I shoot towards it before all but pushing my feet into the fire while wrapping a thick fur around myself. It takes me a moment to navigate around my wings, but then I'm still. My eyes burn into the flames as they dance with the shadows that almost completely consume me.
It only takes a few moments of stillness for me to feel the aching of my muscles from yesterday, but I'm glad to feel the pain. It's better than feeling nothing at all. Pulling them up, I stretch them slightly before tugging them back in to feel the pain. Each beat reminds me that I'm alive. I got out. I'm free. I don't move or speak until the sky is barely tinted a dusty blue and I hear a sigh behind me. My head whips around and I blink when I find Azriel standing in the doorway with his chest heaving as if he'd just ran a mile.
"Kaira." He breathes and slides towards me with purpose, but slows when I cringe away from him.
"What...how are you here? You said you'd be back this afternoon." I ask so quietly I'm surprised he hears me.
"I hurried." He tells me simply and carefully walks around me before settling on the opposite side of the fire. "I felt your fear. Terror. Saw..." Azriel doesn't continue and I'm grateful for the small mercy.
"I get so cold after the nightmares," I tell him quietly with my eyes still on the flames as I take a deep breath as if I can breathe them in. "Especially my feet. It's like whatever life I gained beforehand is sucked out of me in the dreams." My eyes lift to his hazel and I take in the gold tones that shine brighter so close to the fire. He keeps his eyes on me as he shifts a little closer so our knees are touching, then opens his wings so they encompass us both.
Heat fills the space and my shivers lessen as time passes. He must be burning up with his leathers still on and after what seemed like an arduous journey, but he doesn't make a single sound of complaint. He doesn't prod for me to talk or reveal what happened. There's no judgment on his face. He just sits quietly with me so I'm not alone. Only when I toss off my blanket does he pull his wings back to himself and stand, then hesitantly offer his hand.
I take it and he lifts me up easily while I bite back my groan at the pain in my shoulders, back, butt, everywhere from training. When we're both upright I look up at him. Only then do I realize that I'm barely dressed in a cool nightie, but Azriel's eyes don't move away from my eyes. "You're the only male whose touch doesn't scare me." I share and hold his hand in mine with my fingers gliding over his scars. Shadows flit through my loose hair as his other hand reaches up and selects a single curl framing my face.
YOU ARE READING
Shadowsinger
Fanfiction"Perhaps this is death and it's playing a game with me. Maybe that's all death is, reliving the moment it took those that you most loved." Kaira's life ends with her family in the cold snow on the edge of the wall dividing fae and human lands. She's...
