Aria tightened her cloak over her shoulders as she walked deeper into the forest.The deeper she went, the more intense the pull became. She frowned as she moved, the wind carried no sound, only silence and the sinking reality of her situation.She was lucky that she still had not met any of the creatures that inhabited the forest. With her enhanced senses, she had heard some sounds, but whatever creatures were out there, they seemed to fear whatever path she was walking on.The WhiteVale might be quiet, but it was far from peaceful. The deeper she walked, the more the forest physically changed.The trees became taller, their leaves became broader, and their bark? It seemed to ripple at the edge of her peripheral vision.Each step she took felt like she was being watched by an audience, the trees closed in on her.For the first time since she started walking, Aria actually stopped, she resisted the pull and glanced back.Her eyes widened as she realized she couldn’t spot her track. Sh
The warmth of the morning sun did little to stop the knot that was beginning to get twisted in his gut. He glanced up, his eyes narrowed as he limped through the snow-covered trail towards the cottage.His mind was focused on one thing alone, Aria."She should be up by now," he thought. "She would probably still be in bed or making some sort of herbal brew from her herb bags."He smiled as he imagined the sight. She was probably humming under her breath, something he had caught her doing lately.He walked up to the courtyard of the cottage and stopped. He shifted slightly, his grip on his cane grew tighter as he stared at the closed door to their home.A deep feeling of unease blossomed within him. Something was wrong,He couldn’t feel her.Lucien froze, his eyes widened as he began moving fast.He forgot about evenly placing his weight, he pushed through the pain as he rushed to the door and pushed it open.It was empty.The fire in the hearth had burned low. The interior of the cott
Lucien frowned, his eyes narrowed as his grip on his obsidian cane grew tighter.The war council meeting was going on longer than he had expected.Lucien sat silently in his stone-carved seat beside his brother, his brows furrowed as his mind strayed away from the purpose of the meeting.His sharp, intense gaze wandered across the enclave as he watched them trade words and hurl insults at each other. One moment they debated strategies for the war and outlined countermeasures; the other, they cursed at each other and hurled slurs across the room.But Lucien wasn’t listening anymore. In fact, he had stopped listening hours ago, his thoughts had strayed to Aria."She should be awake by now." He thought, "I know she would be worried." If this council meeting wasn’t as important as it currently was, Lucien would have left ages ago. His jaw clenched tightly as he thought of Aria.He had planted a kiss on her lips when he had walked out of the cottage. His grip grew tighter the more he tho
Riley’s brows furrowed,Aria noticed.The moment she had made the offer, she had seen the flicker of disbelief pass through Riley’s gaze.Aria could tell that she was both surprised and intrigued. For a long second, both women stared at each other. Riley's gaze narrowed, her silver eyes glinted as she studied Aria.“Do we have a deal?” Aria asked again, breaking the awkward silence.Riley tilted her head, cleared her throat and nodded. “Yes,” she answered, her voice calm and firm. “We have a deal.” her lips curved into a smirk, “But you’ll answer my question first. You offered,”Aria smiled. She let out a sigh of relief as she took another step forward. “Alright,” she nodded, “What do you want to know?”Riley smiled, “What was your conversation with Lyra about?” she asked. “I saw her shaken up, I know werewolves like her, and they are hardly ever shaken up.”Aria took a deep breath and thought about her answer before her lips parted. “She ambushed me because she wanted to know about t
Warm soft sunlight filtered through the frosted windows of the cottage, and for a brief moment, as Aria stirred, the air grew still for a moment.Aria woke up with a frown on her face.The cold greeted her as her eyes fluttered open.The warmth was gone. Not the warmth of the hearth; no, it was still burning. It was a different type of warmth, a more intimate one.Lucien was gone.She didn’t even need to glance around the room. She could feel it, he wasn’t in the cottage. Her fingers brushed over the fur blanket and, for a very brief moment, she wanted to stay there. But something snapped her awake, something that had just got into her mind.When Lucien had left, he had told her that he was going to go out for a while and be back in just a couple of hours.That was last night.Judging by the intense rays of sunlight entering the room, Aria could tell that it was already morning.“Did something happen?” Aria muttered under her breath, a little bit of unease flushing through her. “He sh
Aria shivered slightly as she walked forward.The cold cloaked her, it felt heavy, too heavy. The sun was high, and the snow was half melted, but it didn’t make a difference.The only source of warmth she currently had was the memories of Lyra’s face as she walked away. That was the most satisfying confrontation of her life. For the first time ever, she wasn’t just the weak cowering stillblood, now she could look Lyra in the eyes and not flinch.Now she was strong, but right now, as she walked, Aria didn’t want to be strong. She just wanted to be with Lucien.Her steps dragged slightly as she walked back towards the market, the rush of adrenaline from her confrontation with Lyra had long since fled. In its place was a dull echo of pride that followed her around.As she walked into the market square, silence descended on it. This time it was even faster than the last. The hush spread across the market so suddenly that it made Aria stop in place.She frowned, she didn’t have time to thi