Desires And Captivity
Beneath my ribs, my heartbeat slowed by half a measure, as if my own heart were trying to match an older metronome.
The wind turned eastward, climbing the ridge, its cold, long fingers trailing along the back of my neck. My wings flinched in protest—not from the pain of flight, but from the draft that brushed the feathers the wrong way, each plume remembering yesterday’s doubt.
—Rest, —I said, my voice striking rough against the forest’s silence.
—Rest, —Sadira echoed, and from beneath the veil escaped a sigh with neither beginning nor end.
Bab Populer