Dragonfly

I would be the soft wings to cover you [the Interlude]

*Notes: it's not a full chapter. It's the Interlude, but very important one🌹

Lullaby of Silence (The English version)  https://open.spotify.com/track/7hwE4UP6nOG63SrG4dcXe7?

I would be the soft wings
to cover you,
I would be the mild storm to lull you,
I'd be like a star to shine at your way,
I wish I could see all your
dreams one day.

Zhenya Lyubich, "Lullaby of Silence"

Mew promised himself to live his present, but he accidentally returns and returns again with lost thoughts to that belated summer day, where the secret tenderness at the fingertips of the mischievous omega braided the north wind into long strands of Mew's blond hair.

And if earlier the king's heart zealously wished for a glorious death on the battlefield and ascension to the heavenly Hall of one-eyed Odin, now, more than ever, Mew is struggling for life, because he knows that the big heart of his little Gulf will not stand the loss. No wonder his lips whispered and, Mew knows for sure, every night they whisper a prayer to protect him from the arrow flying in the days.

But if, in spite of everything, he managed to deserve to be in his prayers and thoughts, then the main thing is not to lose Gulf.

Together with Hird, they arrange themselves for a night-stay under the open sky. The campaign to free the King of Northumbria was successful, with few losses on their part, and now they are on their way to Wessex, to King Alfred. For the first time, the leader of the Danes, according to the Saxons, "the leader of the atheists," will meet with someone who so advocates the unification of the warring English kingdoms. Mew does not yet know what impact this meeting and a long conversation with the King of the Saxons will have on him and his subsequent affairs.

And now the king is lying on the ground soaked in the daytime sun, but it does not give him warmth. Dragonfly's eyes and his fragile smile, which he, having been on the way here last summer, tried so desperately to hide in the fur of his coat, do not let him freeze, while Mew's strong arms held him tightly and rocked him like a baby.

Vortexes of memory weave and weave a lace of thoughts. They return him to that forest. His palm in the air reaches for the ghostly image of a devine face. It seems to him that he touches the sandy ebb of his cheekbones with it. He looks at them for a long time, tremblingly smooths them with the very tips of his fingers. He descends to ripe cherry lips, the flaps of which instantly open slightly. Mew's imagination paints a dangerous, implausible picture. Gulf looks down at the ground, and his thin palm exposes his shoulder. Mew wishes he could take a sip of this, even for a moment. And then, falling into the abyss, paint both shoulders, neck and bare sharp collarbones with blooming buds of purple-scarlet spring flowers. But something clicks in the king's chest, something more important than the call of nature. Having returned Gulf's shirt to its place, Mew envelops the gentle creature with himelf, with arms, like wings, sheltering the omega from all misfortunes. And quite innocently kisses the closest and dearest to his heart on the top of Gulf's head, temples and forehead.

Mew's palm is still in the air. It seems to him that the stars twinkling in the sky are talking to him, and on his fingers there lying the others — thin and slightly trembling. Mew hears a hot whisper: come back alive. And again this whisper echoes: I'll come back, Gulf. Together with the autumn wind and the amber of the foliage, I will return to you, my wonderful, my most beautiful in the world. I will come back to cover you with myself, to become your most reliable shield forever.

I have not accepted the cross, Gulf, but know this: you are my blessing, Gulf, you are what is called sacred here. You're the measure of my conscience, Gulf. My mystery and my revelation.

The alpha's eyelids grow heavy, and drowsiness overcomes his temples. He will fall asleep when ripe cherry lips whisper for him to the night silence of his native north: "God bless him..."