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The bitter cold nipped at my nose, my arms spread wide to take in the falling flakes as I twirled without a care.
My coat fluttered with the wind, the smile blooming upon my lips and the grey sky becomes my view when my back is met with a soft white cushion that crunches under me. The possibility of my clothes growing soaked hardly weighed on my mind, my laughter ringing throughout the air while the load of snow around me weakly fought against the swings of my limbs until I could create the perfect snow angel.
It was still early in the morning, many still abed when I had seen the snowfall after getting ready that I had been quick to dash out the door without a proper explanation to my familiar. Yet, the change in the winds were the telltale sign that someone else was already well awake and finishing his morning ride, sending the snow on a nearby spot to dissipate while a large creature made its landing.
There was only one rider I knew of throughout the Isle of Colde that would dare command a black dragon, its eyes as crimson as its master.
While I sat up in the snow, eager to see him, I knew he would likely not be so appeased at how I presented myself this morning.
The scowl that once made me cower sat upon his expression as he alighted himself from the dragon’s back, his voice calling to me in slight exasperation at my appearance despite the smile I wore to defy his standards.
“Good morning, Guy. Just finished your morning ride with Ertl?”
Pleasantries were rarely a thing when he was annoyed or when I was doing something beyond his comprehension (again), his tone deadpanned and he matched his look to his demeanour. “What are you doing.” Was it a question or was it a demand?
I took it in stride as the former. “Playing in the snow.” Curiously, I tilted my head, and played coy to entice him. “Want to join me?” Quickly dusting and soothing my hair free of the snow that clumped up here and there, I rose to my feet, not letting his odd expression deter my mood while my cheeks and nose bloomed a soft pink from the kiss of the cold winter air.
“Why does something like this please you so? Playing in the snow is pointless.” His eyes divert for the moment, the scowl disappearing for that adorable awkward expression of his.
“Because where I come from, we have snow too. So seeing snow makes me happy that something I know is here in Saligia too.”
The answer itself is so simple, yet it seems to do little to satiate Guy’s confusion. Rather, Guy does not return my response with any sort of satisfaction that his expression seems perturbed and I could only take a crunching step forward.
“Guy…?”
“Do you miss your world?” The heat of his gaze matched with the bluntness of his words caught me off-guard, crimson eyes boring into my own falsely-coloured ones as though he were reaching into my heart to tug on its strings.
It’s not like him to ask me this… We had long since established that I would remain here with him after we confessed our love to one another.
There was no reason for him to ask such a question, but a stutter or silence would hardly give relief to whatever was going through his head. “I do miss it…” I had to think of how to say this honestly, without giving him the wrong idea because I no longer wanted that for myself. I wanted to remain here with him.
“...I see.”
The continuation of my response had died the moment he gave that interjection, and just like that, he went determining things at surface value again.
Oh no, Guy, we are not doing this again. My lips purse, the distance closing between us with every step I made until I could lace my cold fingers between his so that it encouraged him to look at me with those crimson eyes I loved. “But my home is here with you, Guy. No other world could replace the chance to be with you.”
The warmth of his hand dusted off the snow from the top of my head, slipping down through the strands until he cupped the back of my head to pull me close and his head tilted down to meet me. His kiss was sweet yet passionate as the way he held me flush to him, until its tenderness took the strength of my legs with every brush and graze.
Each one painted a feeling, seeking to remind me of my promise to him until I am left seeking support to remain standing in his strong arms.
“Guy…”
His name escaped my lips breathlessly when his lips left mine, the puff of white cloud from our warm breaths fanning against our faces amid his tender gaze. “Will you stay with me a bit longer?” I ask him softly, though it seems he may not have much of a choice in the matter when his aura is flared up like so from our kiss.
What would have been the perfect idea to retreat to his quarters for privacy, the chance of anyone seeing the flare of his aura left others privy to my secret abilities.
Still, he sighed in exasperation at the idea of being out here in the snow, something I hoped to give him a better outlook on by having him out here with me. “If you are suggesting that I lie down on the ground with you, I will refuse in doing so.”
“I promise you will not have to lie down with me.”
He arched a brow inquisitively. “What do you propose then.”
Ertl growled softly from behind Guy in reminder that it was very much still present, and had shifted its black leathered wing where remnants of snow slid off it like a second skin. The amount left there indicated that it was less of the snowfall and rather, something more purposeful.
A squeak left my lips as I took advantage of that moment to break free from his grasp and clumsily sprint through the crunchy clouds of snow, just as he called after me,
“Resorting to sneak attacks, are you?”
As a result, the power that I have accidentally transferred yet again has assailed him and allowed him the freedom to produce multitudes of snowballs in retaliation for the small handful I had attempted to deliver.
Snow was already melting into my shoes and soaking my socks, though the running had helped to keep me warm until I came to a stop at a safe distance. I did not need to look back to know what he had done, considering that balls of snow were fleeing from my reach to join his arsenal but what met me was a multitude of snowballs floating around Guy while he exuded his crimson red aura.
“You are not playing fair right now.”
“Is that a complaint I hear?” Guy’s tongue clicked loudly with a hint of amusement in his tone.
“I said nothing of the sort.”
My own saving salvation had been to attempt a wall of snow from the snow Ertl had blown away from landing, though it was only sturdy enough to absorb the ones that came straight for me while the others had punctured my defenses, breezing past my hair. Once the attacks had stopped, all that remained of my wall was enough to cover the front of me while my flanks and rear were just as exposed as the top of my head.
“That wall of yours was much too thin to handle that. Perhaps some training is in order.”
I could only glare at him from the top of my barrier. I wanted to wipe off that smug look on his face with some snowballs of my own, my fallen barrier reforming itself into layers of bricks in response. “I will not lose.”
“I will not be easy on you,” he announces, taking a step forward.
“I expect nothing less of Prince Guy Avari.” My own response is defiance, teasing, and encouraging him to teach me in a game that I had encouraged myself. It did no good to stop what I started.
His brow arches at my response. “I will not brook insolence from my student.”
I smiled. “And you will pass me with flying colours.”