Walk Away - Chapter 1

She watched him sleep. The cold touched her lips, her skin … but he would not.
She had broken his heart, she knew. She had turned away from his love.
This was not the place for love.

She wasn’t a woman to be loved, she knew.
She was a woman of blood and magic.
She was a woman of pain.

It might have been different.
He had died for her, she knew …
Like so many others.

She allowed herself a minute to watch his breath,
Steaming in this wasteland.
The fire of his hair could warm the night, she knew.

This was no place for love.
This was no place for tears … they freeze before they fall.
Her heart was too frozen to break.

I .. I love you, my lady.

If she didn’t blink, the tears would never fall. Even with her gaze fixed on the flickering blaze, the wind took her breath away and froze the telltale drops before they could form.

He slept, just out of reach of her fingertips – had she thought to reach out. She did not.

The firelight glistened on his hair, warming his face. Just a shade lighter than her own, it shone like cherry honey. Her own darkened from blood to black, falling over her eyes as she finally tore her gaze away.

I’m very sorry. I can not be what you need.

The slightest sound woke him.
He straightened in his pride, in his duty.
He never wondered at the footprints in the snow that stopped beside him.
He did wonder at the warmth, as if a hand had touched his face.

He watched her shape slip over the snow and away

The cold shattered through Brin’s slender frame. She was hanging by such a fragile thread. Only her will and the magic that bubbled through her veins kept her moving forward. That, and the solid, armoured form striding in front of her. She watched the sway of his tail, timed her steps to his. If he kept moving, she’d keep moving.

If she stumbled, he caught her before she could fall – always there, always her shelter.

Do you think I’m doing this for you?? Do you think I have a choice?? Well, dammit, you’re stuck here with me, just like I’m stuck here. Don’t make this any harder than it has to be!

She curled her lip at his back. She could make it through this without his warmth, if not his strength. They were so close. Close to freedom. Close to free will. Clutching the ragged edges of her cloak tighter around her shoulders, she lowered her head and allowed herself to be hypnotized by the crunch of his footsteps.