𝓜𝔂 𝓥𝓮𝓻𝓫𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓷

53. The Story of Archie & Prairie

- TWENTY YEARS AGO -

His lips linger on my neck, our bodies naked and intertwined with one another, after our lovemaking. He nuzzles the back of my head affectionately, making me feel loved like no one ever has before. These moments with one another the only reprieve from my husband, a man who acts more like my owner than anything.

"I do not want to leave." I sigh out into the room feeling a painful tug inside of my chest at the thought.

"Neither of us do." Soft kisses are placed in my hair, making my heart flutter until he says, "but you know we must. You know the consequences if we are found out."

Tears sting my eyes as I hesitantly admit, "I know. I just wish things were not the way that they are. That we could love each other properly."

"You know how much I wish the same. I have wished it from the first day I met you at court. Do you remember that?" I close my eyes as I grab his large inked hand, the one that had been wrapped around my breast, and bring it up to my lips.

"I remember it well. You were with your intended."

"You had just been wed."

"You were claiming her with your scent but then your eyes found mine."

"They locked on you and they have not left a day since." As if to prove the point, his strong arms hold me tighter to him. "My heart belonged to you from the very second, the exact moment, I saw you."

"Like the realms had made a mistake?" I let out a little laugh even though there are small tears still running down my face.

"You know that is exactly how I felt." Lips find my ear before he nibbles on the lobe. Then his teeth graze the skin of my neck before nipping at the skin there. I feel his mouth open wide as he sets his teeth gently over the flesh there. He closes his jaw ever slightly.

"Archie, you must not." I warned, reaching up to palm his cheek, making him pull away.

"I know, my love, I know." He blows a breath on the damp skin of my nape. "How I wish I could mark you as my own, as one of my kind." I close my eyes tight, wishing the same, wishing I was a creature of the land; like him.

"Is Arctic with child yet?" I feel him shake his head, telling me she is not. "Your heirs are next in line for the throne after Prince Timber. I know you will bless your kingdom soon."

"As will you and Kestrel. Your young are next in line after Prince Raven." He caresses my abdomen affectionately. "What if we could make our own kind?"

"I would only wish for them to look just like you." He chuckles deeply. "What is funny about that?" I roll around in his arms, taking in his honey-colored eyes and dark hair. "You are the most handsome of creatures."

"You are the most beautiful." His radiant depths hold mine tenderly as the back of his hand caresses my cheek. "I love you, Prair."

"I love you too, Arch."

✩✩✩

After a bit more time together, alone in an abandoned cottage, Archie and I had bathed in the creek. It was the usual ending to our rare meetings. We would watch one another bathe, knowing we would not be able to touch each other again for who knows how long. Sometimes it would be a couple of moons, sometimes twelve. But even after all this time we had managed to still meet up.

We did not fear the consequences of breaking the laws of the realms. We did not care that one of us belonged to the land and the other to the sky. It did not matter. The universe had gotten it wrong. Because how in all of the realms could something that feels so right be verboten?