The Princess of Terrasen

Ch 4

Aella was next to Sebastian's bed, her chin resting on her palm as she idly gazed at him. News of Kallon's murder had likely reached Deanna by now but she couldn't bring herself to care, not after she had burned him alive. Not after he had hurt Sebastian. Sebastian had been slipping in and out of consciousness for days.

She watched as his eyelids fluttered and he turned his head towards her. Aella couldn't bring herself to make a sarcastic comment, only profound relief coursed through her as she grinned at him. He laughed, a hoarse, cracked sound as he eased himself up. The healers had healed everything, it seemed no pain lingered either as he stood up and stretched. 

"Come" she jerked her chin toward the door and he gave her a questioning glance as he followed.

Aella led him out, out of the palace and to a cliff bordering the sea.

"What?" laughter danced in his eyes as he leaned against a tree trunk.

She stared at him for a minute, just looked at him. The way his icy eyes turned warm whenever he laughed, the way his distant, haughty face opened up. Maybe this was a bad idea. Deanna would surely kill them both. But Aella couldn't bring herself about Deanna. The words tumbled out of her before she could think of how to phrase it properly, before she could consider whether it really was a good idea.

"You're my mate."

Sebastian blinked. There was a long silence in which Aella just stared at him, unable to say anything, unable to apologize and just walk away. When she finally looked up,Sebastian's sensuous lips parted in a smile.

"I know"

Her worry dissipated. A smile, wide and joyous played around her own mouth, a smile she could not contain, would not try to.

"Since when?"

He chuckled

"That day when you first told me to warn everyone in Qarav"

And Aella found herself taking in every line in his face, took in the way his eyes crinkled as he laughed. The need to claim him as her mate- as hers - pounded through her veins, that desire took hold- the same desire that sparked in his eyes-and she put her hand on the back of his neck and pulled him closer to her before claiming him as hers.

He smiled against her mouth, even as they kissed, embers sparking at their feet, her fire a living thing in her body. That smile of his disappeared and her fire sparked in her veins as they claimed each other.

That kiss obliterated her.

It was the world being cleaved in two and then being reborn. It was a reckoning, it was the beginning of everything and it was the end. It was finding something that made her whole

"You're mine" she breathed against his lips

He made a low sound in agreement before he pulled her in again for a second kiss that knocked the world from under her feet.

"You're mine" Sebastian's murmur was a key that unlocked every wall she ever put up

She cupped his face and broke away from him only long enough to say

"I'm yours"

Their hands roved, Aella's blood heated. He was hers, and she was his. Mates. Equals in every way.

Her hands played with the hem of his shirt.

"No" the word was a hoarse whisper

Her fire calmed, soothed by her ice

"Why not?" the words came out much breathier than she had intended

"Deanna. She'll kill you"

Right. Because if they took this further, his scent would be entwined with hers and hers with his. A signal to Deanna that they were mates. And even though the desire coursing through her demanded attention, she took a step back.

"Some other day" she swore

"We'll run away" his tone was light, his voice teasing

Even though that wasn't possible, she found herself nodding.

He smirked at her, those walls back up, and strode back to the palace, every step seeming forced.

Aella stood there, the days events catching up to her as she laughed and ran a hand through her hair before simply stepping off the cliff.

In a flash of light, she shifted and soared up, straight as an arrow.

When the air became too thin for her lungs she loosed a cry that shook the world, tucked in her wings and practically fell through the sky. The weight that usually hung around her shoulders, the weight that made itself clear with every breath she took seemed to disappear, to ebb away. When she neared the thrashing sea, when she was close enough that her talons grazed the water, she opened her wings with a snap and felt that weight simply disappear. She was light and free as a feather as she soared above those blue waves.