There's a sort of warmth that washes over a person when they feel loved. It's like that warmth that meets the palm of your hand and the tip of your fingers when you reach for the cup of coffee waiting for you on the cafe counter. It's like that warmth settling at the pit of your stomach once you've finished a homecooked meal with company you enjoy. It's like that warmth that starts in your throat and spreads throughout your body as you drink a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter night, cuddled in blankets while the TV runs. A type of warmth that words can never do justice.
When he was a boy, that warmth was gifted to Crimsyn Andraste by a girl who, despite being long gone now, continues to live rent-free in the archives of his mind and running through the maze of his heart. But they were little boys and girls back then and eventually, little boys and girls are forced to grow up. It didn't take long for Crimsyn to realize that the cup of coffee waiting on the cafe counter will eventually grow cold on the way home. It didn't take long for him to realize that the company one enjoys could be the very same company that turns out to be the people who were always your enemies. That cup of hot chocolate you can drink while enwrapped in a blanket and watching TV is a privilege of youth. The very youth ripped away from Crimsyn like daisies picked from a park's grass by children who don't know any better.
Crimsyn knew that the warmth given to him by Princess Milani Alastair wasn't the same as the girl he once dared to love. But it was pretty damn close. Before the night of his injuries and entering Milani's room, Crimsyn had only heard of the now 23-year-old White Dove Princess but upon meeting her, he had quickly realized that while the stories had some truth to them, they painted a "sheltered barbie" image around her which didn't seem to be all that true after all. She was smarter than they said and knew more than she let on. Milani stirred in her sleep, drawing Crimsyn out of his thoughts as he stayed still in his raven form. She had given him the name Crow and he wondered if she had done that in an effort to protect him, not that he needed anyone's protection.
"Crow!" Milani's voice said, her tone giving away her excitement, confirmed to Crimsyn with the sight of her sleepy smile. He simply nudged her hand with his head, starting to grow fond of the pets she gave. But he needed to leave and soon. He left the comfort of her warmth and flew towards the window. Milani getting the hint opened it for him and watched as he flew away.
Traveling through the skies from the White Dove Kingdom to the Black Raven Kingdom and vice versa took less time than people thought, at least, for him it did. He had to learn how to fly quickly in his raven form to escape those after him. On the flight back home, his mind returned to his first love and something she had told him once.
Crimsyn looked at the excitement in her eyes, nervousness settled in the pit of his stomach. For lack of a better word, his feelings for the girl smiling in front of him was a "crush." He felt... butterflies, that's what it was called. Yet butterflies didn't do his feelings for her justice. It wasn't enough to describe the way her smile made him want to become the cause of it. It wasn't enough to explain the way her laugh sounded like the sweetest song he'd ever heard. It wasn't enough to translate the way the happiness in her eyes looked like the greatest view on earth.
"What if someone catches us flying?" he asked nervously. He had only shifted into his raven form a few times and given the title of his crush, flying with her was something he knew he shouldn't be doing with her being so out of his league. He was a boy while she would one day be crowned the Queen of the Black Bird Kingdom.
"People never look up, Red." Red, she had given him that nickname when they were younger because she couldn't pronounce "Crimsyn." In exchange, he called her by her full name instead of the nicknames given to her by others. "They're too focused on what's under them, too worried about the people around them, too scared to lift up their heads that they miss the beauty of the skies. We won't get caught, trust me. Now c'mon, let's go so we can catch the sunset!" Unknowingly cursed with wings of death as a raven, 8-year-old Crimsyn Andraste flew beside the nightingale's wings of love.
Times had changed since then, the Black Bird Kingdom was now named the Black Raven Kingdom with Crimsyn as its king. Though looking back on it, she was right and her words were true till this day. He had been able to fly over countless routes and into different kingdoms because no one ever looked up. And it was for that same reason, he had been able to take over the kingdom. As Crimsyn returned into his human form, his soldiers greeting him before he walked into the castle he knew one thing. Despite not having known her for very long, he was starting to feel things for Milani. And with her past confession the night he returned, the two had a shared interest. The want for the war's end. Crimsyn wondered if it was even possible for such a thing to happen. He had fought in the war for as long as he was the king of the Black Raven Kingdom which was now more than half his life. But then, a solution came to mind. Would the Alastair Royals accept the gift of a white flag in exchange for a white dove?
[ a/n ]
— thank you for all the birthday wishes from the last chapter !! i turned 16 :) i'm also surprised that the story has gotten 600+ reads so thank you for that too !! <3
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A Dove's Innocence
العاطفيةHe sits upon a throne never meant for him, bearing losses of a war he was never responsible for. Whispers through the kingdoms say that his eyes are so dark staring into them long enough would summon Lucifer himself. His body is painted with black i...
