Dark Queen: The Cybelline Prophecies

Epilogue - Jinon & Kyria - Part 2 of 3

She heard his voice every day, as he worked and as he fought for her soul. She loved to hear him talk, the deep voice rushing over her and dragging her back to her self.

Never did she ever doubt that he loved her, even when she was at her worst. She wanted to hold his hand, wanted to kiss his lips, wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, even if it was just one day.

But she had expected to die, and now that she knew she wasn't dead, how could she face him after doing all those terrible, cruel things.

Slowly the thousand years went by, he was always by her side.

And he took care of her. In the summer and fall he took her to the open fields, taking care of the sleeping girl with more love and tenderness than she had ever felt in her life.

Every day, he bathed her and washed her hair. He would hold her in his arms as he played the lyre for her. Their bodies as close as one as his large, awkward hands moved on the white strings. She was nestled in the warmth of his chest, his and her hair stirring in the gentle wind as the mist moved gently on the little blue lake and the sweet smelling long green grass rustled with the music. He often sat underneath the fig tree, the green leaves occasionally allowing dancing sunbeams to break through and glance off his black silk robes.

In the winter and early spring he would go to the rivers and crack the ice with his mighty hammer, hauling massive blocks of ice on his shoulders miles and miles up to the cave, so that she may have warm water to bathe in.

Every month he would go off to find the nests of the Snow Phoenix where he collected the softest down, to use for the bed she slept upon.

Her robes were made with the softest pelts and silks money could buy. Every coin he made went into making her more comfortable. She knew that even if she never woke up, he would still be doing this day after day.

He knew that she loved the smell of the evergreen and so he planted the entire mountain of her favorite Sky Pine so that when she took a breathe, she could always be near the delicious scent.

There was no flowery language of love. He didn't know how to speak of those things.

But everything he did was love.

Day by day, year by year, decade by decade. He spoke to her until she learned to forgive herself. He held her until she felt only joy and anticipation at the thought of seeing him again.

She knew that he had never hated her, never wanted her dead. She knew that their time together was going to brief.

The day she woke up it was to the soft croon of the lyre.

Kyria's eyes opened to stare at a cave filled with dimly shinning spells. Her beautiful brows frowned a little in consternation and there was a slight change in the rhythm of her breathe. The music stop as the zither fell to the ground. He got up and walked to the sarcophagus, there was excitement in those ancient eyes.

A delicate hand, as exquisite as the whitest jade and as smooth as the inside of the magnolia flower touched his weather roughened face. A smile flitted across her face like a grace note, a stream of sunlight that broke through the thunderstorm.

His heart, that heart that could beat without quickening on the battlefield, skipped a beat. He too smiled and enveloped her in his arms.

Kyria took a deep breath and smiled, a voice that hasn't been used in a thousand years held a little hesitation, a little roughness but still sounded like music to his ears, "I'm sorry that I made you wait this long."

A tear dropped onto the ground. Kyria looked at his face in stunned surprise. This man had never cried. Not when she tortured him. Not when she betrayed him. Yet he had cried for her.

"No. I knew you were here with me." He said simply and crushed his lips to her, his lips held longing and possessiveness, melting her guilt away like warm fire. She returned passion with passion, trying to burn away the scars of time with that kiss.

Jinon had never felt so much joy in his life. Because in this moment, they were just Kyria and Jinon. She wasn't the Goddess of Light that was revered and honored. He wasn't the rebel general who betrayed her.

Kyria sighed and murmured his name, there were tears on her face as well. She looked at his face, her hands at his chest, "You stubborn man." She knew the spells he had written, knew that this world he had created for her came at a terrible price, he simply said "I have you again."

"You always will."

Jinon crushed the girl to his chest, kissing her smooth, lovely silk hair. For the last thousand years he waited and waited for each day to pass, the sun seemed permanently glued to the sky every day and refused to set any faster.

And now that the day he waited for had arrived, he reverently wished that it would never end. He wanted to nail the sun to the sky and and tie down time so it could no longer move forward.

In those lonely mountains, the two souls who were fated to meet and fall in love, but not destined to be together, held onto each other as if they were clinging on for life. This was not the love of lovers who had all the time in the world, but warriors who went into the final battle knowing that this would be their last.

Kyria's head rested on his strong chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart.

Jinon grabbed her hands and kissed it over and over again, marveling at how its small warmth was like a flame in his.

He looked at his own hands, they shimmered silver. A sad light flitted in the depth of his eyes.

"Kyria, will you dance for me?"