A/N At the end of Chapter. Enjoy <3
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CIRCE
I fell back on my knees with shock, my hands sinking into the sand and my breath coming in shuddering gasps. It couldn't be him, it had to be some kind of sick joke, but I couldn't move and I felt as though the entire world had crumbled away leaving us and nothing else.
"I don't," My voice broke as my grief rose in my throat, getting in the way of my words. "I don't, understand?" My pitch rose at the end as I struggled to contain a sob. It couldn't be him, it can't be. It can't be.
He had raised himself slightly on his elbows and captured me in the stare that I had dreamt of for weeks, his eyes had been branded across my soul and I looked up to the heavens for a moment, trying desperately to gulp down the monsoon of tears that were on their way.
"Love,"
My head snapped back to him and I saw that he was trying to reach me, his hand stretching across what seemed to me, to be a canyon of emotion.
"Don't touch me." My voice was hoarse as I jerked away impulsively and I saw the shock in his eyes. I reached up a shaking hand to run my hands over the burns on my neck and my chest. I felt them, they were real. So were the ones on my arms, it was real, it had happened, I had seen him burn. These scars were a memory of that heat, of that horrible gut-wrenching pain, of his death.
He saw it coming before I felt it hit and I crumpled over my knees, my head falling to the sand, my hands cupping my behind my neck as I began to cry. I cried and cried and cried. Huge, racking, body shaking sobs that made me feel as though I was disintegrating into nothing. When I felt his hands in my short hair it only made me cry harder. Somehow he managed to pull himself closer to me and I felt his warmth for the first time in months, proof of his living, breathing body.
"I thought you were dead," I sobbed, grasping at his hand and bringing it down to press it against my face. "I watched you die! I watched you! I saw you die!" My words flung themselves at him with a sudden fury and I couldn't seem to grasp what emotion I was feeling. Was I angry? Angry at what? Angry that he wasn't dead? His death had been a lie. Had he known? No. He would have told me.
His hand moved down my tear stained face and rested under my chin, pulling it upwards so that I was forced to look at him. Forced to look into those eyes and be paralyzed by them, be lost in their depth.
"Tell me that you are really here," My voice hitched, a sob catching in my throat.
"I'm here, I'm not dead." His words were soft, his voice as deep and as velveteen as I remembered it to be.
"And this isn't a dream?" I whispered, my eyes lost in his. "Because if it is, you can tell me you know. I have had so many dreams about you, but this would be the best."
His golden eyes burnt into mine. "This isn't a dream Darling." His eyes were hooded as he looked at my mouth hungrily before leaning forward to brush his lips against mine in the softest of touches. "Does this feel like a dream?" He murmured.
We stared at each other for a moment as my tears continued to flow and his eyes flickered all over my face, taking me in. And then I grabbed him, pulling him in to close the gap and kissing him desperately, my arms wrapping around his neck, my hands in his hair, any part of him that I find to hold him closer. He had to be real, this couldn't be a dream, I could feel the warmth of his lips on mine, feel the wetness as our tongues touched, shyly at first before giving way to hungry, greedy passion.
His hands were sliding down the sides of my neck, scooping under to cradle my cheeks and when we finally broke apart we left only the smallest of spaces between us as our noses touched gently. He softly kissed my face, tasting the salt of my tears and my eyes slid shut as I relished in his touch, part of me still unable to believe that he was really here, that this was really happening. It just seemed too unreal.
His cheek rubbed against mine and I felt the soft scratch of facial hair on my skin. He was warm and he smelt so good. His body was solid under my wandering fingertips and I felt him shudder, his muscles twitching with pleasure.
"I have been looking for you for so long, you don't know ... what I have done, what I have gone through, just to find you. And you fall into my lap, completely by chance. It's almost agonizing."
I was less focused on his words and more on his voice; I never thought that I would hear that voice again. I had forgotten the things that he could make me feel with a few choice words spoken in that delectable tone of his. I bent my head, resting it on his shoulder, my nose nuzzling into his skin. That I was hearing him now, after believing him gone forever, was enough to make my heart swell with emotion, prompting a fresh round of tears.
His arm wrapped around me, holding me for a while again until the crying ceased. I leant back a little, wiping my face and trying to control my emotions. It was just so hard. I noticed then that he was sitting up, which reminded me of the reason that I had approached in the first place and I immediately felt stupid.
"You're hurt."
"It doesn't matter right now and it's not that bad anyway, it'll heal."
Wiping my face again I looked at him and bit my lip. I still couldn't seem to take him all in at once, I felt as though I needed to separately analyse each feature of his face, just so I could begin to piece him together again, before appreciating him as a whole.
Ignoring his remark, I moved down to his leg and he sat up fully, supporting himself with one hand while the other wrapped around me, drawing his chest to my side as he buried his face in the crook of my neck and breathed in deeply. He made me shiver but I couldn't pull away and tried to concentrate as best I could as I un-wrapped the bandage around his leg.
I cringed at the sight of the wound, it was deep and ugly, although it looked clean which was surprising and I noticed that the skin around the edges was already beginning to heal.
"How did you get this?"
His voice was muffled as he spoke into my neck, his lips sending tingles through my skin. "Animal attack," His answer was vague but I wasn't in the mood to press any further, I was still trying to grasp the fact that he was alive.
I silently healed the wound, the task draining a little more energy from me than it normally would due to the absence of both Anthemin and the pendant. We both watched as, under my skilful hands, the skin and muscle knitted itself smoothly back together, leaving a long, ugly scar where smooth skin should have been.
I frowned. The scar should have disappeared too, only a wound inflicted by a Dragon could leave a scar once my healing was done. I was tired though, and a little out of practice.
Obsidian saw my hands pause and caught them up in one of his own, bringing them to his lips. "It's fine, thank-you."
"But the scar-"
"It doesn't matter, another to add to the collection."
I looked at his face and his lip twitched in a half smile.
"Can you stand?"
"Shall we find out?"
In one swift movement, he rose to his feet, bringing me with him and almost automatically my legs wrapped around his waist, holding me against his body. One of his hands cradled my ass and the other rubbed my back as his face tipped upwards and his lips connected with mine once more.
My hands clutched his face and I kissed him back. This time the anger and fear was gone. Instead, it was replaced with a deep, burning desire to make him mine all over again. I wanted to envelope myself in him, in his scent, in his lips, in his glorious body and his tantalising, complicated, mysterious mind.
For the first time since that horrific day I felt as though my body was truly alive. I could feel my heart beating, I could feel all of the nerves in my body shudder at his touch and I could feel the air that we shared moving in and out of my lungs.
I was desperate then, to feel his skin, to hear his beating heart and he helped me remove my dress, lifting it up over my head, the brief moment that I couldn't see him too much to bear and my lips descended back down on to his for a moment before we tore away what was left of his shirt. My palm pressed flat against his chest as our tongues locked and I sought out the feeling under my fingers that would confirm that this was real. That this wasn't a dream, that I wasn't hallucinating, that I wouldn't wake up, and that he was really here, here with me. Alive.
I felt it then, the rhythm of his heart, beating frantically against my fingertips as he kissed me into oblivion and it seemed as though it was so loud that I could hear it too, although maybe it was just the sound of my own heart rushing in my ears, beating in perfect synchronization.
*
I woke in the late afternoon when the air began to cool but the heat from the day remained in the sand. We had shifted further up the beach and into the shade of the jungle with the sun on our entwined legs and now the shadows had stretched further, bathing my body in the dappled green light that fell down from the canopy of trees above.
My head was resting on his shoulder, one hand splayed across his chest. I could still feel his heartbeat thumping beneath my palm. I kept my eyes closed, unwilling to wake up and my breathing hitched a little as I felt his fingers trace the burns on my hands. He followed the swirling scars all the way up my arm as though outlining a pattern. His voice was soft when he spoke but I could feel the simmering anger in his tone.
"What happened?"
I squeezed my eyes shut tight, but the memory flashed into my mind and forced them to open.
"Who did this to you?" His voice had a certain commanding tone to it that I could not ignore.
"No-one, I-"I paused, the words sticking in my throat but I swallowed and forced them out. "You were ... you were burning, and I- I ran to you. But there was nothing I could do."
He was silent and after a moment I tried to raise my head to look at his face, but his other hand came up to hold my head against his shoulder, restraining me. When he next spoke, his voice was shaking.
"Why don't you heal them?"
This question was harder to answer.
Because I hadn't wanted to forget him, because I wanted proof that he was gone, that it had happened in the first place. Because they proved that I hadn't just sat by and watched him die. Because they proved that I had fought for him. Because I had wanted Zalas to feel unparalleled regret and shame every time he was forced to look at me. Because I hadn't wanted anyone involved to forget what they had done, what they had been a part of.
These thoughts, so simple in my mind, could not seem to be formed into tangible words. I think he seemed to understand because he moved onto his next question, the hand that was on my hair rubbed circles into my scalp. It felt nice.
"Why did you cut your hair?"
This one was easy.
"Some of my hair burnt off." I said nonchalantly. I had just remembered that we had removed his shirt earlier and my fingers had begun to re-familiarize themselves with his torso. I played with the swirl of his belly-button as I answered the rest of his question. "It was lopsided and looked funny, so I cut the rest of it off too. It'll grow back; it was shorter a few weeks ago."
He had tensed again when I mentioned that I had been burnt on my scalp and I could feel his fingers feeling around for damage. Unable to resist any longer, I moved my head so that I could see his face. He didn't stop me this time but I could see a muscle jumping in his jaw. He had an arm behind his head for support, but his eyes were looking away from me. In the rich yellow light they were highlighted in the most astonishing way and for a moment I thought I saw his pupils twist and shape into slits like a cats.
His face was a little different, I hadn't noticed it before, the lines of his nose and his brow seemed more defined than usual although his cheekbones and the curve of his jaw were as sharp as ever. His ears were more pointed than was normal too, something that only happened to him whenever he had been embracing his Elven heritage. The inevitable question fell off my lips.
"How are you here?"
I could see him thinking over my question and when he finally turned his golden gaze upon me I felt a small flash of fear. How was he here? I had seen him die, I had seen the pile of ash, I had felt the heat of the flames and there was no way that he could have survived.
"Obsidian," I spoke his name like a plea "I need to know this. Did you know you were going to die?"
His eyes softened. "Yes."
Deep in my heart, I had known it too. But I hadn't wanted to admit that it could actually happen.
"Did you know you would survive?"
He sighed. "Yes and no."
I was instantly hurt. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Circe," He reached out to touch my cheek tenderly and I turned into his touch, holding his hand against my face. "I didn't think it would work and I didn't want to get your hopes up in case it didn't. If I had known, if I had been one hundred percent sure that I would survive I would have told you, but the chances were slim, it depended on a lot of different factors."
"I don't understand." I said desperately.
"It's complicated Love,"
"Then explain!" I was sitting now, my hands planted on his chest. "Explain to me what was so complicated that you couldn't tell me! I thought you were dead, I watched you burn alive!" I lifted my hands to slam them down on him in anger but he caught my wrists and brought his face close to mine.
"Darling, don't you understand? I did burn, I did die. I felt the heat, I felt the skin melting from my bones and I felt my heart stop beating. What you saw was real, okay? I didn't deceive you!" His voice was rough, passionate and filled with pain.
"Then how are you here?" The tears were back and they dropped onto his skin, staining it. "It's impossible."
"Come here."
He pulled me back down to his warm chest, his arms wrapping around me and his thumb making small circles on my shoulder. He kissed the top of my head and sighed. "Let's just say that the Elven King didn't do his research properly. I don't know much about his part in it, but what I do understand was that Zarska sacrificed herself for me."
"Zarska?" The name lit a fire in my belly. "But she was the one who burned you." But as I was speaking the words I was remembering the moment that the fire had begun to consume her too.
"She came to me, before we even arrived at the Water Kingdom and told me of our bond,"
"You were bonded? Like Anthemin and I?" I couldn't help but interrupt again, this was news to me.
His voice was harsh. "There was no reason for me to believe her, but I couldn't deny that I felt some connection. She ... explained some things to me. There are old magicks, very old, rituals you know, rules ... things like that. She believed that should my death be imminent, if she was the one to deliver it to me, then I could be ... resurrected."
"Resurrected?" I whispered. "But why would she do that for you? Wasn't your Father the one who tortured her? Took her from her home?"
He paused for a moment before answering. "I believe that she saw it as an act of repayment. I did kill my Father after all. And from what I knew, Zarska didn't believe that she belonged anymore, she felt that she was destined for another purpose. I guess that purpose was me."
"So that's it? She brought you back to life? How was she even able to do that?" I couldn't help but feel as though his answer was a little vague, as though he was leaving something out, but he sat back up then and pulled me to his lips, kissing me deeply.
"When a bonded Dragon burns by its own flame with the intention of sacrificing itself for its bonded partner, their life forces are able to be switched. I don't know the details, it's Dragon magic Circe, how much do you truly expect to understand," He murmured, his hooded eyes staring at my mouth from under sooty black lashes. "Does it matter anyway? I'm here with you now and that's all I have wanted since I first breathed air again."
I melted into his embrace, my hands cupping his face oh so tenderly and I pressed my lips to his, tasting how delicious he was. "I suppose." I kissed his nose. "Thank-you for telling me though,"
"Anything for you Princess,"
His hands ran up and down my sides giving me goose-bumps and in one motion he flipped me over, hovering above me, muscles rippling, tan skin glowing in the descending light. My hands explored his body hungrily as his face nestled into my neck and he left burning kisses across my jaw.
"There is one thing I forgot to tell you though," He whispered in my ear, gently taking my earlobe between his lips and nipping it softly.
My back arched. "What that?" I mumbled.
He pulled back just enough so that he could look into my eyes, his face serious. He was so beautiful; I couldn't help but strain up a little to kiss him sweetly. "Tell me."
He returned the kiss, murmuring against my lips the words my head had forgotten but my heart had been yearning to hear.
"I love you."
I sighed and allowed myself to be swept up in him. "I love you too."
*
Hey Babes!
I was so taken aback by the amount of comments on the last chapter that I thought I had better not keep you people waiting any longer!
So there you have it, I hope you enjoyed it, I hope it was worth the wait, I hope it was just the right amount of everything because I have been over it fifty billion times and rest assured there will be more of those two to come of course ;)
I don't want to hear any of this 'all Circe does is cry' cr*p, (excuse my bluntness,) because basically in this chapter SHE CAN CRY AS MUCH AS SHE BLOODY WELL NEEDS TO. :) Said in the nicest way possible w/ lots of love xxxxxx
Love you all heaps lots,
Daisy xox